I Identity As Being African American

Am I black? Am I not? Am I Eritrean? Or am I an American? What am I? Who am I? Who is Abebba Araya? I constantly asked myself these questions. Why is it to certain people that I am black, yet to some I am not? My entire existence in this world has been very ironic. However, I now know who I am as a person; I am a second-generation American of Eritrean descent. I am both an American and Eritrean, yet I am not black. An emphasis on the and, which I realized exists between these two cultures and incorporating both of them into my lifestyle.

I was late for school, and my father had to walk me in to class so that my teacher would know the reason for my tardiness. My dad opened the door to my classroom, and there was a hush of silence. Everyone's eyes were fixed on my father and me. He told the teacher why I was late, gave me a kiss goodbye and left for work. As I sat down at my seat, all of my so-called friends called me names and teased me. The students teased me not because I was late, but because my father was black. They were too young to understand. All of this time, they thought that I was white, because I had fare skin like them, therefore I had to be white. Growing up having a white mother and a black father was tough. To

There are numerous ways to identify would I am. I am a african american female that is country and loves the outdoors mainly like mud riding . My cultural identity is important it’s part of me . it’s who I am . inside and out . My religion is very important to my family, when I become an adult my religion will pass on to my children. Growing up it made me realize that my cultural is like a oreo hard on the outside and and the inside is thing sweet person filled with joy and happiness .

James McBride can tell you firsthand about man verse racial identity. Journalizing his experience in his New York Times Bestseller novel the Color of Water simply outlined his struggles of finding who he was. His upbringing included a black father and a Jewish white mother. His background made it hard for him to understand why his home was different than others on the street. Although McBride experience shows an older outtake of racial identity, some may say this still is a problem today. Offspring feels the need to pick a race in society to succeed in the generation and it may be the step to understands them more. Notice in the subtitle of the book "A black Men tribute to his white mother" he label himself as just black as if there was a barrier between his mother and himself because the so different. Today we need to not let racial identity become a big part of our lives.

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 and had two sons; however, they look nothing alike. Jeremy, the oldest, looks African-American and Anthony, the youngest, looks white. I chose to interview Jeremy for my paper because I wonder how being the only black child in a large white family impacted his identity.

Growing up as a child in a slave family was pretty easy, until you discovered the harsh reality of slavery. The children were not allowed to call certain people by certain names. For one former Louisiana slave, that moment came when her mistress whipped her for saying "to misses, `My mother sent me.' We were not allowed to call our mammies `mother.' It was too near the way of the white folks." (African American Voices pg. 109). Some children saw their own parents getting whipped and became aware of the fact that their parents could not protect them from their master. Some children copied their owners because that is

One of Beverly Tatum's major topics of discussion is racial identity. Racial identity is the meaning each of us has constructed or is constructing about what it means to be a white person or a person of color in a race-conscious society. (Tatum, pp Xvii) She talks about how many parents

In “Races isn’t what defines me: exploring identities choices in transracial, biracial, and monoracial families”, Butler-Sweet, Colleen explains that there has been a controversial issue in the United Sates for more than half a century, among black children raised in white homes. The author’s main claim is that transracial adoption will miscarry a black identity. Comparing experiences among monoracial, biracial, and transracial families on black identity.

In the opening chapters, Sharpless depicts that African American women pursued the work of cooking for white families, because it was important to the financial stability of their families. Sharpless mentions how before women got the opportunity to work as cooks, they were forced to do field work, which involved working on cotton plantations, and even on farms tending and harvesting corn, tobacco, rice, and sugar. Doing field work consisted of long hours every single day, with very little to no pay, and working in harsh weather conditions like rain, hail, sleet, and snow, and when these women did not cooperate they were beaten and abused by their masters. Sharpless illustrates that once the opportunity came along to be inside the house and cook for these families, African American women leaped with joy. Even though the women still faced hardships in this profession, their family’s needs kept them motivated to work. These women could earn up to $17.50 a week and sometimes the employers of the cooks would give them used clothes, and allow them to take leftovers home to their families. Having the opportunity to become a cook gave these women lots of benefits, allowing them to keep their families sheltered

   Historically, the job of women in society is to care for the husband, the home, and the children. As a homemaker, it has been up to the woman to support the husband and care for the house; as a mother, the role was to care for the children and pass along cultural traditions and values to the children. These roles are no different in the African-American community, except for the fact that they are magnified to even larger proportions. The image of the mother in African-American culture is one of guidance, love, and wisdom; quite often the mother is the shaping and driving force of African-American children. This is reflected in the literature of the

Slavery had an immense impact on African American families, as the familial dynamic of the African American family was in many ways responsible for the stereotypes surrounding black families in the present moment. Not only were families the sole property of their slave owner, but there were laws restricting their rights and privileges. However, despite the fact that the African American slave family existed in a perpetually tumultuous state, there were cohesive slave families, but they faced many struggles and challenges. In particular, black women were faced with incredible hardships with regard to sustaining the familial structure. This paper explores aspects of the African American family structure during slavery, considering the effect that slavery had on black women. The legacy of slavery in the present moment is also considered, in addition to whether slavery continues to exist.

Black identity is not only the color of your skin but how you identify yourself whether it is by cultural experiences, accustoms, and historical roots. Personally, I do not classify myself as being African-American. I am black as in my skin color, but the main part of my identity is my ethnicity. Though I am an American due to the fact that it is my birth country, I do not adhere to the quintessential American culture. My bloodline is pure Haitian. I do not associate myself as being a true American because I do not share the same customs and history. My mother was born in Haiti and migrated to the United States in 1995, so essentially I was raised in a strict Haitian household. She was very sheltered from America’s issues and immersed herself in the Haitian enclaves. Thus, in my household my family would speak Creole, I went to a Haitian church, and was only fed Haitian

Slaves were not usually treated with respect in the households they worked in, most of the time, slaves were treated horribly. They would be raped, beaten, teased, whipped, and were victims of many cruel and unusual punishments that are unimaginable to the human race present day. Family was the most important thing to the African culture. Brothers tried their hardest to look over their younger sisters as best as possible. Old women and men with no family members to turn to, looked to the comfort of nieces, nephews, and cousins when they fell ill, and aunts and uncles played a primary part in the family as well. Men were not the only ones that were forced to take part in daily labor and routines but also women and children. Some slaves were assigned outside work in which they would tend the crops and more commonly known work the plantations on their masters estate. Women were more commonly assigned to kitchen work such as cleaning the houses, washing clothes, cooking meals, working as servants, and tending to the masters each and every need. Most women who worked in the houses were brutally raped by their masters whether or not they were married to a man or not. Although most women worked in a home setting, there were some women who did work outside with the men and children. Work was difficult on the slaves and their masters were not empathetic towards them in

Similarly, in my culture gender norms were placed upon males needing to “man up,” and women were seen to be housewives. However, my grandmother wasn’t necessarily your average “house wife.” Indeed, she had children, and cooked for her husband but she also was provider as well. Like I mentioned before she worked at a fabric factory, but later applied to work for a hospital as maintenance. Here was a young mother of four stepping outside of the stereotypical norm to work and ensure stability for her family. Exposure to the workforce was very much embedded into the her children’s lives. Seeing both parents provide towards the household demonstrated a sense of equality among both male and female. As previously noted, my grandparents wanted their children to succeed in life so my grandfather always advised them to do more than he ever could. With money being low and my mom being the oldest she was forced to get a job at twelve. My grandfather helped her receive her first job working at a swat meet. With one child making some money, and two parents working they were able to save enough money to buy a house in the 1980’s.

¨Pereme-what? That is the weirdest and longest last name i've ever heard of! Where do people get last names like that?¨ My answer? Well, my grandfather is from Siberia, but my family just consider ourselves Russian. Actually not long ago my dad had told me about a city in Russia called Peremyshl, my great great grandparents, as I was told, are from there, Peremyshl is in the Kaluga Oblast near Moscow. And because of my ethnic background, I go to my church's youth, our youth really likes to go and hang out at the park or go someplace else and play volleyball.