Carol Channing admits to being 1/2 black
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wondernita — 19 years ago(June 10, 2006 12:41 AM)
by - romadiva on Wed Apr 19 2006 06:53:57
Carol is an octoroon. Her dad is mulatto
Her father was NOT a mulatto. If he were she would have mentioned it. He was a light-skinned black man as it states. Meaning two black parents. Carol Channing is a Bi-racial/Black Woman. -
aq_23 — 18 years ago(September 05, 2007 06:44 PM)
I think you should check out these boards
http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/miscellaneous/26876-black-parents-can-have-white-kids-too.html
http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/mulatto/vpost?id=1109621 -
Eva1-1 — 16 years ago(July 31, 2009 06:36 PM)
I will excuse your ignorance, as it is not entirly your fault. If you really believe this, please explain some of these folks.
http://onedroprule.org/about1567.html -
Isle1970 — 18 years ago(October 24, 2007 01:27 AM)
If her father was so light-skinned as to be able to pass for white, he likely was less of a percentage bla2000ck than a mulatto would be. I believe mulatto means half and half (black and white), i.e., Halle Barry is a mulatto (black father, white mother). She is nowhere near light enough to pass for white because her father was not a mixed black-at least not apparently so.
Someone mentioned that Carol was an "octoroon", which would make her an 1/8 black I believe. That would mean that her father was 1/4 black. Neither of these percentages is mulatto though.
Carol's father could have been born of two very light-skinned black parents, but that also would not be defined as mulatto. If one of his parents was light skinned and had a child with a white person, he could be called mulatto technically, but his complexion wouldn't match the usual description.
In the end it doesn't really matter because even though the "one-drop" rule was no longer in place, most people married within their own race (for legal reasons among others). That being the case, Carol's father's parents were likely very light-skinned themselves (but not light enough to pass) and living as blacks, while he had the complexion to choose.
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it - Shaw -
lavenderspirit2005 — 18 years ago(December 05, 2007 08:44 PM)
Carol's father was born in the South to a Black mother and a White father. I believe I read that in JET Magazine when they ran an article on Channing after she said she was part-Black. His mother moved him up North so he could gain more opportunities since as a Black child, he would be discriminated against and be forced to undergo Jim Crow.
"If one of his parents was light skinned and had a child with a white person, he could be called mulatto technically, but his complexion wouldn't match the usual description."
As a person of Black and White blood MYSELF, I'd like to say that there's no "usual description". A person of Black and White mixed blood can look like anything. We can look White, we can look Black, we can look American Indian, some of us can even look Asian. Half black people vary in skin color just like not all Whites are pasty, or all Latinos are brown-skinned with straight Black hair. They come in a variety of skin complexions.
"Someone mentioned that Carol was an "octoroon", which would make her an 1/8 black I believe. That would mean that her father was 1/4 black. Neither of these percentages is mulatto though."
I can tell you right here, as an actual person of mixed blood, that that seems to just be splitting hairs. Not only have all of these percentages historically been considered "mulatto", they've also been considered BLACK.
Historically, the term "mulatto" has not been meant as strictly a term reserved for people who are half pure african and half pure white. That's biologically impossible anyway, since Black people are no longer pure African. So, yes indeed, people exactly like Carol Channing and even whiter have been considered not only "mulatto" but Black as well.
I am exactly like Channing: I have a half Black, half White mother and a White father, and not only can I be called a 'mulatto', more to the point, I can most definitely be called BLACK. There've been people whiter than Carol Channing both in blood and skin tone who've skipped over entirely the so-called "mulatto" racial label and jumped straight to "Black" such as famous activist Walter White:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_White
In fact, People with Channing's racial makeup and EVEN whiter who have been open about their Black ancestry, has historically been referred to as "BLACK" statistically more often than even the "mulatto" racial label. This is Black history, written about in nearly every Black history book pretty much ever written.
Why do you think she stayed quiet about her Black heritage in the first place? Because people like her regardless of being one-fourth Black were viewed as BLACK. And Black musical super-stars in her era were very few, if any.
There are a great many people who are half black and half White who are extremely light-complected and some who look White. My mother is like Carol Channing's father: her mother is Black and her father is White and she's quite fair, a light yellow complection. My Father was White. My mother and I are both very fair-skinned Blacks.
I had a cousin also like my Mother, who was born to a Black mother and White father, who was quite fair-skinned herself, also a light-yellow complection.
The actress Lonette Mckee was born to a Black dad and White mom and looks White:
http://us.ent3.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/contrib_pix/l/o/hds/lonette_mckee.jpg
Jennifer Beals:
http://www.l-word.org/images/jennifer-beals.jpg
Amanda Marshall:
http://www.lyred.com/covers/amanda_marshall_-_tuesday's_child.jpg
Anthony Ervin:
http://www.swimontario.com/uploads/articles/Anthony_Ervin.jpg
and others.
Percentages are all well and good, but in reality, most of us who are of Black ancestry, REGARDLESS of the percentage consider ourselves not only "mulatto", but Black as well. In actuality, there have been far "whiter" people than Channing who've PROUDLY considered themselves Black and Mulatto, in the past and present.
Check out: http://www.aaregistry.com
