Big Family Identity

My racial identity shaped who I was when I lived in Iowa. My sister and I were the only black children within a 50 mile radius. It did not help that we lived in poor conditions. That only solidified the stereotypes that were tied to me as a black person. I was called “n****r” girl and looked at weird. The teachers gave me looks of pity. I felt alone. My mother was in her own world of picking up the pieces of our broken life that landed us in that foreign town to begin with. I was seen as a charity case. People wanted to house me, befriend me, and aid me because it would be doing society a service. My mother’s friend who I lived with for 2 months treated my sister and I as though we were her personal babysitters, her tax write-offs. She talked about possibly making us her foster children. Not because she wanted a good home for us, but because she could get paid to do it. I was seen as property. She came from a background of prejudice and the insensitive Aunt Jemima figurines and racial remarks only solidified her intentions. Even though she would say, “I can’t be racist. I’m taking care of two black kids”, her actions were driven by race. These instances of

I come from a multiracial family of eleven. I have three biological brothers, three siblings from China, and two older sisters from Haiti. Before you ask, yes, my mom shops at Costco twice a week and drives an old beat up twelve-passenger van christened “Big Blue”. Growing up in a unique family has had a significant impact on who I am today and how I treat people. Perhaps one of the most important life lessons I learned from my somewhat unconventional family is that when it comes to succeeding in whatever you do, resilience and perseverance matter more than physical perfection and innate

The growth of identity is a practice molded by a person’s family history, environmental experiences, and societal attachments. Identity endures ordeals to make the person secure and attentive so that it’s easier for the person to know what to expect out of their life. Although changes in our surroundings can be accepted, adjustments to one’s identity can often be challenging. Particularly in African American identity, there is difficulty in accepting who one is and knowing one’s place in society. There is an even greater difficulty if one is a biracial African American.

Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and social discrimination based on the tone of their skin. After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans no longer wanted to be identified by their African American lifestyle, so they began to practice African culture by taking on African hairdos, African-influenced clothing, and adopting African names. By turning away from their roots, many African Americans embraced a culture that was not inherited, thus putting behind the unique and significant characteristics

African-American family is known for their strong family ties. Family ties were strengthened by heavy reliance on parents, children, grandparents and in-laws to provide emotional, financial and psychological support to each other during both good times and bad. African American

I interviewed my nephew, Jeremy, for my Personal Identity paper. I come from a very large family including; six brothers, sister in laws, and fifteen nieces and nephews. My brother, Joe, married an African-American women (Sandra) and had two sons; but, they look nothing alike. Jeremy’s appearance is African-American and Anthony’s is Caucasian. My purpose for this interview was to learn about being a black child in a Caucasian family.

If I could describe my own racial identity, I would describe myself as a twenty-one year old girl who is causation. I was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania my whole life with my two sisters. I come from a middle class working family. My cultural background is, I come from the Irish and German heritage. I have green eyes, brown hair and my skin color is light. When it comes to my extended families, racial history is most of my family members were from Ireland and came over the America to raise their families. My great grandmother was born in Ireland, but she lived Czechoslovakia for a few years, before she moved to America. So my most of my extended family that I know are Irish on my father’s side of the family, my mother’s family is German. My parents raised my sisters and I, in a house where religion was very important, my parents raised us as Catholics. My parents were really strict and old school when it came to certain things. How I feel about my racial identity is, I love the person I am and I would not want to change myself at all. I enjoyed the way I was raised; it helped me shape me into the person I am today.

My family's traditions and food also has an impact on who I am. My family has always been the ones to go all out on holidays and gets all the family together and eats a lot of food. The main holidays for my family are birthdays, Thanksgiving New Years and especially Christmas. A majority of my childhood memories are of all my family just being together for holidays and eating my grandma?s famous tamales. I feel

My mother is Polish and Italian but my father is African American so growing up as a biracial person was always somewhat of a challenge. My relatives my my mothers side always saw my siblings and I as somewhat outsiders because we bared many physical differences from many of them, whereas when I encountered my fathers side of the family it always started out that I was more similar to them but I ended up not being like them enough to be fully accepted as one of them either. It is interesting because some see me as belonging more to a “white” culture and some see me more associated with “black” culture making me feel as though I never really belonged to either. It impacts my identity because at times it can make me feel as though there is not

How do you feel race, ethnicity, social class, and religion has shaped you and your family lives? Whether we take notice or not these aspects of our childhood and today’s life contributed to our view point about different parts of the world. Also, the way your family interacted with you and others is determined in a way by these key points. My race, social class, ethnicity, and religion has helped mold me into the young adult I am, beliefs, and values I hold today because I understanding who I am which provides me with the ability to understand others backgrounds.

My parents as well as my extended family have been crucial in providing the foundation for my beliefs, attitudes and values. I grew up

According to many psychologists and other social experts, there exist two major social behaviors that are widely adopted globally by a person as they mature into young adulthood: extraversion or introversion. Extroverts are expressive individuals who appear to be energized and enjoy seeking activities that involve socialization with others where as a reserved individual (introvert) prefers solitary pursuits where he or she often partakes in a favorite pastime. In her novel Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life is Your Hidden Strength, Laurie Helgoe statistically explores the fact that more than one half of the American populace claims to be reticent and encourages those folks to embrace their natural selves (“Book Details” 1). Introverts

Family influence is any family member in your lifetime that has made an important and long-lasting impression on your development. Growing

The people who affect my social life the most are my family and friends. I have an extremely close family that has played a major role in my life. They are whom I spend most of my spare time with. My family usually gathers every weekend for dinner. I am also very open to different religions, cultures, and practices because I know many people with different backgrounds and beliefs. Since I've been influenced by various people, I've learned at a very young age to never judge people by how they look, dress, feel, or act. I am very fortunate to have learned these lessons, because many people still do not understand the importance of accepting differences. In a group, I prefer to listen to what others have to say, and then contribute to the discussion. I try to listen so I am able to compare them to my own thoughts. I enjoy working in a group, because it gives everyone an opportunity to incorporate their own ideas. My social self is most greatly influenced by my family and friends.

Personalities can play a major role that can either prevent or extend a want or need to have a social life. Early development is another indictor on how someone learns to socially interact in a healthy way, and the many other circumstances that can either encourage or keep a person from pursuing a social life with their society. There are many defining features to this variable. Therefore this is an ongoing area of research because of the myriad of results depending on a person’s experience at an early age, their gender,