Biracial Celebrities Who Proudly Claim Black

Drake, Colin, Tiny and more.

Black Is Beautiful  - With Meghan Markle, who identifies as mixed-race, being engaged to Prince Harry, the conversation of racial identity is all over the Internet. While Meghan identifies as mixed-race, being "mixed" is consistent with the African-American experience, from Frederick Douglass to President Obama. Check out celebs who have different race parents but identify as Black.(Photo from left: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for GQ, Paras Griffin/WireImage, Bryan Steffy/WireImage)

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Black Is Beautiful  - With Meghan Markle, who identifies as mixed-race, being engaged to Prince Harry, the conversation of racial identity is all over the Internet. While Meghan identifies as mixed-race, being "mixed" is consistent with the African-American experience, from Frederick Douglass to President Obama. Check out celebs who have different race parents but identify as Black.(Photo from left: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for GQ, Paras Griffin/WireImage, Bryan Steffy/WireImage)

Photo By Photo from left: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for GQ

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Tiny - Tiny has a white mother and a Black father, but has never claimed she wasn't  Black. When the world was introduced to her mother on the reality show Tiny and Toya, it was the first time fans knew she had a white mother. Unlike some biracial celebrities, she never used her racial identity as a talking point or to dismiss any of her roots.(Photo: Paras Griffin/WireImage) 

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Colin Kaepernick - The 49er refused to stand for the National Anthem in August of 2016, sparking a conversation about the right to protest. Colin, who has a white parent and a black parent, said he took a stand against police brutality and the way black people are treated in this country. Despite what his fellow NFL player Rodney Harrison may think ("I tell you this, I'm a Black man. And Colin Kaepernick — he's not Black,") Colin is definitely rooted in his Blackness!  (Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) 

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Jesse Williams - Born to a white mother and Black father, Williams has never tried to hide his biracial status. In fact, he tries to use it to advance his advocacy. “I have access to rooms and information. I am white and I am also Black. I am invisible man in a lot of these scenarios,” Williams said, referring to the Ralph Ellison classic. “I know how white people talk about Black people. I know how Black people talk about white folks. I know I am there and everyone speaks honestly around me.” 

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Drake - The "Hotline Bling" rapper has a Jewish and Black parent. The Canadian comes from a different perspective versus someone who is raised in America, but he is definitely rooted in Black culture. (Photo: PacificCoastNews)

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Halle Berry - The Academy Award-winning actress is a firm believer in the one-drop rule, which states that an individual that has at least one ancestor from the sub-Saharan African ancestry is considered Black. While going through her daughter Nahla’s custody battle, she said, “I feel she's Black. I'm Black and I'm her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory."  (Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for Variety)

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Mya - The R&B singer, who is both Black and Italian-American, admits she was teased for being biracial. “There was a time in my life when I wasn't popular and accepted by kids in school. I was made fun of with braces and kinky hair, and being from a multicultural family,” she said. Now, Mya seems perfectly comfortable in her skin.(Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Clear Channel)

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Faith Evans - The multi-platinum Grammy Award winner has a white parent, but has never strayed away from identifying as a Black woman. Faith, who has been outspoken about Black issues, performed J. Cole’s “Be Free” on Black Girls Rock in remembrance of Michael Brown’s death.  (Photo: Maury Phillips/Getty Images for BMI)

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Keyshia Cole - The singer got some flack back in 2012 for declining an invitation to sing at Black Girls Rock!, but she later tweeted, "I don’t [sic] not know what I’m mixed with, nor have I tried to find out. I was raised in Oakland. My mother is a Black woman HOWEVER I do not know my father. Nor really [care] to know!”  (Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

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Lenny Kravitz - The singer and actor, who's African, Bahamian and Jewish, embraces all of his roots. “If you have a drop of Black blood, they put the Black stamp on you," he said. Kravitz has written about experiencing racial discrimination as a Black man, especially in the song "Mr. Cab Driver." You can guess what the song is about. (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Alicia Keys - The Grammy Award winner has a white parent and a Black parent, but knows she is not seen as "biracial." The songwriter told The Guardian in 2001, “My mixed-race background made me a broad person, able to relate to different cultures. But any woman of color, even a mixed color, is seen as Black in America. So that’s how I regard myself.”  (Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Harlem School of the Arts)

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J. Cole - The Roc Nation artist has a Caucasian mother but admits he relates more to his Black roots, “I never felt white. I don't know what that feels like. I can identify. But never have I felt like I'm one of them. Not that I wanted to, or tried to, but it just was what it was. I identify more with what I look like, because that's how I got treated.”  (Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for BALLY)

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Misty Copeland - The ballet dancer became the first African-American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre’s 75-year history — an honor she's very proud of. In the September 2015 issue of Essence magazine, Copeland said, “It’s easy for someone who isn’t Black or other or who has never experienced racism to dismiss what I’m saying…it’s easier for them to say, ‘Why do you focus so much on that? You’re a beautiful dancer.’ But the reason I’m here and I have this voice is because I’m Black.’”  (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Glamour)

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Paula Patton - The actress is not a fan of the term biracial, and has often been quoted as identifying as Black. She once said, “I find [the term biracial] offensive. It’s a way for people to separate themselves from African-Americans…a way of saying, ‘I’m better than that.’ I’m Black because that’s the way the world sees me.” Well said, Paula! (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

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Boris Kodjoe - The Real Husbands of Hollywood actor, whose mother is German and father is from Ghana, told BET.com, “When I walk the earth, I walk the earth as a Black man. That's what I'm being perceived as, that's what I look like and that's what I feel like.”  (Photo: Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Super Bowl Gospel)

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Jussie Smollett - The Empire star — along with his famous siblings — has quite the multiracial background: his father was Jewish from Russia and Poland and his mother is of African, Native American and northern European descent. But as far as Smollett is concerned, he is in a unique position to raise awareness on issues important to the Black community. “If millions of people are listening, shouldn't you speak on the subjects that make the world a little bit better?" he said.  (Photo: John Sciulli/Getty Images for Calvin Klein)

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Sade - The most successful female solo artist in Britain, Sade didn't think about her racial identity until she came to America. "I noticed the reactions when I first came over here," she said. "London was a really multi-racial city...It's incredible how comfortable people are with race there.”   (Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

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Barack Obama - The first Black president of the United States is a part of history, and despite paying homage to his white mother, he fully embraces his racial identity as Black. He even confirmed that he has always chosen to check “Black, African-American, etc.,” in any formal documents.  (Photo: Mark Makela/Getty Images)

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Bob Marley - The reggae icon was born in Jamaica to a Black mother and a white father. Marley was an avid activist on Pan-Africanism, which is the ideology that encourages the solidarity of Africans worldwide. He used his music as a platform to sing his desires of the people of the African diaspora to unite against those who have oppressed them.  (Photo: Maurice Hibberd/Evening Standard/Getty Images)