Tom Joyner

LOS ANGELES – MAR 30: Joyner at the 50th NAACP Image Awards – Press Room at the Dolby Theatre on March 30, 2019 in Los Angeles, CA, kathclick/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Thomas Joyner

Place of Birth: Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.

Date of Birth: November 23, 1949

Ethnicity: African-American, as well as English

Tom Joyner is an American radio personality, host, philanthropist, and musician. He was the host of The Tom Joyner Morning Show, of syndicated radio. He founded Reach Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, for historically black colleges and institutions; and BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Tom is the son of Frances Lincoln (Dumas) and Hercules Lionel Joyner. His parents both graduated from historically black colleges. He has two children with his former wife Dora Chatmon.

A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show African American Lives 2 (2008) stated that Tom’s genetic ancestry is:

*65% Sub-Saharan African
*35% European

Tom’s paternal grandfather was Dr. Oscar Albert Joyner. Oscar was born in South Carolina. He earned a medical degree in 1909, and was one of then-3000 black physicians in the U.S.

Tom’s paternal grandmother was Ruth Griffin (the daughter of F. E. Griffin and Julia Holley). Her brothers, Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin, were landowners outside Columbia, South Carolina. They were wrongfully convicted of a murder they did not commit, in 1913, and were subsequently executed, by electrocution. They were unanimously cleared by the South Carolina parole and pardon board in 2009.

Tom’s maternal grandfather was Isaac Lafayette Dumas (the son of Isaac “Ike” Dumas and Frances/Francis Rawls). Tom’s grandfather Isaac was born in Alabama. Tom’s great-grandfather Isaac was the son of Ralph/Rofe Dumas, who was born into slavery, and of Caroline Collier.

Tom’s maternal grandmother was Nettie Lavinia Stanback (the daughter of Zachariah/Zacariah/Zack R. Stanback and Janet/Jennie Hall). Nettie was born in North Carolina. Janet was the daughter of Edward Hall, a white lawyer, and of Jane Hall, who was Edward’s black slave. The two appear to have lived together after slavery ended. Edward’s father was a Supreme Court Justice in North Carolina.

Sources: Articles about Tom’s paternal great-uncles’ exoneration – https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com
https://www.cnn.com

Genealogies of Tom’s parents – https://www.findagrave.com

Tom’s maternal grandfather, Isaac Lafayette Dumas, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org

Tom’s maternal great-grandparents, Zachariah/Zacariah/Zack R. Stanback and Janet/Jennie Hall, on the 1880 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Zachariah/Zacariah/Zack R. Stanback and Janet/Jennie Hall on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org

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