Matthew Knowles, father of famous daughters Beyonce and Solange Knowles participated in Fox news networks’ Real American Stories series. According to his story, success didn’t come easy for the Knowles. He shared his American story about how he grew up, supporting his children’s dreams and why you should never give up on your own dreams.
We paid a lot of attention to what our kids’ dreams were. Entertainment was the thing that they love and singing, so we focused on making sure they had dance lessons and vocal lessons and things that they needed and wanted to do. Whatever my kids wanted, I wanted to be the dad that supported their dream and supported their passion.
I grew up in segregation. My mother went to high school with Coretta King. Being one of the first African-American at Litchfield junior high. Having state troopers take me to school everyday, having parents outside with signs saying very negative things about a young kid. I always had a dream for myself, I had always given myself 20 years in corporate America, I wanted to be in the music industry and it was happening at the same time that my oldest daughter, Beyonce had a dream that she wanted to be in the music industry.
Our family comes from a very diverse background and I use our family as an example that we came from an environment that was not the best economically. But we came from an environment where family was important and a lot of love. To be where we are today, truly reflects America and the opportunities that exist in America. Our kids, Beyonce, Solange and Kelly saw their parents work extremely hard everyday. I think those work ethics is what really drives them today. I tell young people never give up on their dreams. It won’t happen the first time…even Destiny’s Child, they got dropped by a major record label before they got signed. I just think that one of the things we always have to remember is that it’s not going to be perfection. I think that if we realize that we work toward a common goal, inside of negatively is often an opportunity. That’s the great thing that we discuss, change in America.
