All of this from the woman who gave us “Sorry to this man”? Baby, that’s Keke Palmer.
RWM: How are you doing today?
KP: I’m doing good. I was a little tired—moving around so much, trying to get rest, mind’s not able to relax. I’ve also gotten addicted to Ancestry.com so I literally have been up all night doing that. But other than that, I’m really good. I’m in Atlanta getting ready to film a movie.
Wait, what got you into Ancestry.com?
I think I was just thinking about history, how my family moves and how it’s very village-esque. And I started looking at the meeting of Westernism and African diasporic ideals as it pertains to Black Americans.
Oh, just casual!
Right, right! I was looking at where that places Black Americans, our philosophies that we follow as a people, and then what we know, growing up as Americans. That made me think about my history, my family. And so then I was like, Well, maybe I could find more information. And I found myself on Ancestry.com and it goes far. I’m literally up all night getting into it being like, Did y’all know…?!
Is there anything you’ve found so far that’s a little spooky or surprising?
So my grandmother’s great-grandparents were…one of them was a biracial woman—half-white—and then the plantation owner’s son. He wasn’t married to her, obviously. She was a free woman and she took him to court. I was really shocked—they had the actual case documents of her being like, “Andy Ivy, you need to give money for our son!”
That’s incredible. Do you feel any connection to her—like, Okay, I’m not the first person in my family to call somebody out?
When I saw that, I was like, This makes so much sense. Not just for me, but also for my grandmother, my mom—they are so like, I’m going to get the help I need. I’m going to find a way by any means necessary. So 1,000%, when I saw that, I was like, Violet, I can’t believe that you did this, girl. That was so shocking to me, at that time period.
One of the things I wanted to ask you about was the double-edged sword that is the “strong Black woman” archetype. On the one hand, I have no doubt that you have your shit together…but that stereotype doesn’t always make space for softness or vulnerability, and it can feel dehumanizing. And for someone like you—the entertainer, cracking jokes—I’m wondering if that ever affects you?
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