Why Beyoncé Exploring Her Ancestry Matters
Beyoncé’s reconciliation of her ancestry reminds us that we live in danger of allowing narratives we didn’t generate to tell our stories for us
By Caleb Gayle
This morning, Beyoncé’s September cover of Vogue magazine was released. Beyoncé and her team, led by Tyler Mitchell, her handpicked 23-year-old photographer, exercised extraordinary control over the issue, from the cover to even the captions of each photograph. And it was with that control that Beyoncé invited Vogue’s readers to understand her without impediment.
The issue includes Beyoncé in Her Own Words, as she discusses experiences that range from pregnancy and body acceptance to the importance of legacy for her and her children. But perhaps most potent is one of Beyoncé’s shortest reflections: “I researched my ancestry recently and learned that I come from a slave owner who fell in love with and married a slave.”
It is this research, this understanding of where we come from, that will aid black people in, as Beyoncé says, “connecting to the past”. Living our lives informed by the history that “makes us both bruised and beautiful” will likely be the only way for us to begin reconciling with our past. Without this history, we live in danger…
