Tina Knowles
speaker
321 appearances
3 recordings
3 series
first heard Apr 2025
last heard Jun 2025
Tina Knowles’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Protect me, yeah. And instead... And instead my mom says, I said, I don't like them and they're really mean and I don't want to go because I thought it was optional. And she said, oh, you don't have a choice. You have to go back. And she brought me back across the street.
So the nuns, the nuns. They came to me and said, oh, do you have a pretty white dress? It was going to be for some ceremony. Every Friday in Catholic school. During Lent, they would crown the Blessed Virgin Mary. So you get to wear a little dress, white dress, and a mantilla like you're a bride, and you get to crown the statue. And I thought, oh, God, they like me.
So I went home, and my mom, it was on a Wednesday, and my mom got a remnant little piece of fabric and made me this beautiful dress. And then I brought the dress back, and they took the dress from me and gave it to Linda Kennison. Now, I'm 71 years old, but I remember Linda Kennison. And they said... Where is Linda Kennison today?
And they're like, her mom passed away, and I was very sympathetic, but I was like, I still don't want her to have my dress, which set up a lot of guilt in me because I was like...
Absolutely. And I felt so guilty because I was like, I should not be... They were like, you're selfish. You're just such a mean, vain little girl. And your mother says, give her the dress. And I'm like, I don't want her to have my dress. I mean, I was ready to fight her. And I was mad at the little girl, which made me feel bad because then my mom said, you still got your mom.
We can make you a new dress, but she can't make another mom. So it was so confusing and abusive to a little kid. Yeah. But... The lesson in that that is so memorable for me is that the day she wore the dress, I mean, she wore the dress and crowned the Blessed Virgin Mary because she was so happy. And it meant so much to me because I did that.
And that's why my mom was so smart, because she said, you did that. You brought her that joy by giving her something that was so important to you. So my whole life, if something is really, really dear to me, when I give it away, It means so much more because it's something that I really valued.
And it's easy to give away stuff that you don't care about, but it's really hard to give away things that you love.
I think they resented you. They resented you. It was a class thing. Yeah, it was a class thing, for sure, because they felt like their self-worth was tied into teaching a teacher's kids, and they shouldn't have to be bothered with us little poor kids. Like, we just didn't measure up, and so it was a waste of their time. That's what I've got from them all the time, for sure.
Well, I think my fearlessness came from survival. You know, for someone to tell you I'm going to break the evil spirit in you and you just vibe like... I knew that if I didn't stand up to them, that they would just really abuse me.
And vain. They used to always say, and I went home and asked my mom, I was like, what is vain? And she said, it's when you think you're cute. And I was like, oh, I'm never going to have anybody think that I think I'm cute. But I would say in my head, I would call them the B word in my head because I was a little cusser. And I would just think to myself, no, you're not. No, you're not.
And stand up to them. I was just so stubborn. I mean, if you talk to anyone in my family, they will tell you how stubborn I was.
Well, that's a great question. You know, I've always preached to my daughters that you got to knock the doors down and that you should be at home at any space that you choose. And I mean, that was preached to them from the time they were younger because I wasn't given that. I wasn't given that message all the time from my mother. But what I did get from her is that it was an honor to be black.
That it was spicier, that it was, you know, it was strong. It was the best. That our music was the best. And our cooking was the best. The way we walked, the way we dressed. I mean, my mom loved dressing. And I mean, that's such a great thing. My daddy and my mama were sharp. They didn't have any money, but they made sure they're sharp, even if they had to get, you know, Goodwill.
I got Goodwill shoes my whole younger life because my mom would say, I'm finding you some Buster Browns. Y'all remember Buster Browns? Anybody old enough to know Buster Browns? So I was always taught to be very, very proud of being black.
Yes. Yes. Because, you know, we didn't have a lot of boys. So I was like, the name is going to become extinct. So I named her Beyonce. Much to my dad, he was like, girl, that baby going to be really mad at you. Because you're naming her a last name.
Yes, it was very important to me to just highlight both of them, because obviously, you know, when I go on shows or I do anything, people, you know, they they like to talk about one of my children. And so I have to include all of them. Yeah, that was really, really important. It's a constant thing for me to have to fight for.
Well, it was very obvious from the very beginning because Solange, one of my girlfriends, was very structured, very educated. You know, everything had to be a certain way. Her kids made straight A's and Solange was very attracted to it. So she was always telling me I didn't measure up to Cheryl. Yeah. In no uncertain terms, you know, and Beyonce loved the freedom of not having a structure.
And Beyonce was very much like me because I never enjoyed school. I don't ever have a good memory other than the talent shows or the Black History Program or something that was creative or even home economics where I got to sew and do things. I'm that creative force. And I think for B in her creative space, I think she was very much like me.
So I could really relate to her because she could do the work if she wanted to, but she didn't want to. If she could have skipped school, she would have skipped school and just had her music career. Oh, yeah.
Showing 241–260 of 321 · page 13 of 17
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