Rhimes’ production company, Shondaland, is behind the new hit Netflix drama “Bridgerton”, which features Black and White members of early 19th century British high society.
The series was created by showrunner Chris Van Dusen and is based on a Regency novel by Julia Quinn. In the show, the real British Queen Charlotte is portrayed by actress Golda Rosheuvel as a black woman.
Many have long believed that the Queen, who was married to King George III and is an ancestor of the current Queen Elizabeth, had African ancestry based in part on the depictions of her.
Still, there are others who dispute that claim.
“Many historians think she has an African background,” she said. “It’s a hot topic and we can’t do her DNA test so I don’t think there will ever be a definitive answer.”
Queen Charlotte is just one of many in history whose racial identity is in question.
Here are a few others:
Ludwig van Beethoven
The writer reported that the theory was put forward in 1907 by British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who was mixed and said he saw a similarity between its characteristics and those of Beethoven’s parables.
It’s an idea that Clark says has survived the years and was picked up by black activists Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X.
“Was Beethoven black? The evidence is scant and inconclusive,” Clark wrote.
“The case rests on two possibilities: that Beethoven’s Flemish ancestors marry Spanish” blackamoors “of African descent, or that Beethoven’s mother had an affair. But the truth that Carmichael and Malcolm X were looking for was not scientific.” Beethoven was black “was a great metaphor. Designed to disrupt and shake certainty.”
J. Edgar Hoover
The first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was known for the work he did to undermine the civil rights movement and its leaders.
The story quoted Millie McGhee, author of “Secrets Uncovered, J. Edgar Hoover – Passing For White?” an African American woman who remembered hearing she was related to Hoover growing up in McComb, Mississippi.
McGhee said her later investigation showed that they were indeed related.
“Because of Edgar’s anti-black history, I am not proud of this lineage, but the history must be based on truth,” she said.
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
Was Jackie Kennedy the first black first lady?
This theory seems to stem from research into her origins.
The piece notes that “When First Lady Jackie Kennedy visited England in 1961, photographer Cecil Beaton met her at a dinner party. In his diary he noted that she had a” black “appearance.
Some historians have also noted that her father, Wall Street stockbroker John Vernou Bouvier III, was called “Black Jack,” which they attribute to his dark complexion.
Clark Gable
Gable was known as the tall, dark and handsome “King of Hollywood”.
It has long been rumored that he had both black and Native American heritage, which no one has ever thoroughly documented.
But he was known for his early advocacy for African American civil rights.
“He looked at me and read the signs and swore like a sailor,” Bluett recalled.
Gable, who was the star of the film, went to the director and the real estate manager and demanded that the signs be removed or else the hundreds of Black extras on the set would walk away that day.
Bluett said the plates had been removed.