My Father Is A Second Generation

Growing up in an area with a large Mexican community I never really understood how much my culture means to me. I grew up with the stories my dad and grandfather would tell me about my ancestors. My people were the raiders from the hills of Mexico City and that we were a family of warriors. I never held much weight to the warrior part of my grandfather’s stories but I did know that my great grandfather was a fighter. He left Mexico and rode the train up to Denton Texas and sold tamales on the square his entire life. He fought to give my grandfather a better life here. I don’t talk about my dad’s side of the family much, in this day in age being seen as white has more advantages than being seen as Mexican. This thought changed as I came to

As an Italian-American, I was and am still told by my mother, grandparents, and great-grandparents how proud I should be of my heritage. I was taught to respect my great-grandmother who, after arriving in America along side her husband, fully committed herself to raising her four sons and eight nieces and nephews in a two-bedroom house in Pennsylvania. She was motivated by the drive of a better life in a new, strong country for the young-ones she loved. I was taught to treasure both food and family, praying each night through the Blessed Mother. I was handed Pizzelles and Almond cookies as snacks throughout the day, and listened to Dean Martin through the stereo almost every night. My grandmother’s family came from Mezzogiorno, while my grandfather’s family hailed from the North Country. Though I had never been to Italy, as a child, I still knew the significance of being Italian and was thankful. It was not until I entered public school that I began to understand the teasing that my own ethnic group was subject to on a near daily basis.

As a first-generation American I’ve had to face certain challenges that people from non-immigrant families wouldn’t have to face. The most obvious challenge is subtle racism. I’ve had people, speaking directly to me, imitate the way other Indian people speak, make racist jokes (some people think racist jokes are validated if they’re speaking to someone from the race in question), justifying themselves by telling me things like “but you’re not like that.” I come from people who are “like that.” I may be an American but that doesn’t mean anyone can make comments about my family and where they come from. Another such challenge is that my parents often can’t help me navigate American life. But their experiences, the difficulties I’ve seen them face in their lives, and the values they’ve picked up and passed down to me have shaped how I approach life’s problems. Seeing their struggles to create a good life for our family in the US has taught me the importance of education, hard work, risk-taking, and optimism.

‘The physical work, the heat from the ovens…the long hours for little pay in those times when most other Sicilians too didn’t earn enough to buy many cakes---when almost

In the poem Heritage by Linda Hogan, Hogan uses the tone of the speaker to demonstrate the shame and hatred she has toward her family, but also the desire for her family’s original heritage. The speaker describes each family member and how they represent their heritage. When describing each member, the speaker’s tone changes based on how she feels about them. The reader can identify the tone by Hogan’s word choices and the positive and negative outlooks on each member of the family.

Born to Peggy and Edward Garcia on October 4th 1984, I am a third generation American. My grandfather was born in Mexico and my father was born in New Mexico, while I was born at Fort Lewis Washington, I am a Soldiers Son. While growing up my father was stationed at various bases throughout the United States and I was “lucky” enough to tag along.

Together my family tree or Genogram and I see why it is important to know who we are and where we come from. I am an African American and both my parents are of African American decent. In the African American culture, many of our ancestors came to America by capture and not by choice. It is said that many African Americans were slaves and were a part of slave trade that was increased between the 15th and 19th centuries (Bennett, 2003; Van Sertima, 1976). Many African Americans were brought here to make their white or European owners money and cause them to be prosperous in areas of agriculture. There were white indentured servants, who could have worked to till the ground and make the harvest plentiful, but it wasn’t enough, so plantation owners saw it profitable to use African slaves as a solution to

My father is from Yugoslavia. I have very early memories in childhood of knowing that I was a first generation American. I am Croatian and this culture is huge on family. I remember being constantly at family functions that seldom involved people outside of the family and the neighbors (on the block we lived). I actually believed that all of my neighbors were family members and all were Croatian. I didn’t realize that the neighbors or other people had different nationality and/or backgrounds until I was a pre-teen. My neighborhood (the block) was diverse for the Southside of Chicago in 1960’s and 1970’s. I was exposed to Lebanese, Jordanian, Hispanic, German, Irish, and Korean culture from the time I was a small child but I didn’t know that the culture was different from being Croatian; I felt that it was the norm. I didn’t realize the difference until I entered high school.

The Italians’ holiday culture helped to make America a more diverse nation. Their family-centered culture and regional affiliations resulted in highly concentrated settlements called, Little Italies. Entire villages in Italy would travel over to America to form these settlements. Many were heavily clustered in cities in the mid-atlantic and midwest states. The immigrants typically viewed themselves as residents of a particular region or village, not as “Italians.” Their daily habits and life reflected this, as they usually only associated with fellow kin or villagers called paesani. The Italians were working on becoming a member of American society while still trying to maintain their old customs. During holidays, Italian immigrants still utilized traditional customs such as folk songs, folklore, and dances for special events. However, like so many of the Italian aspects of life, they were so regionally specific that they defied easy characterization.

A heritage does not define a role in society. The lives of Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass and Barbara Ehrenreich all demonstrate the human ability to thrive despite the real implications of one’s heritage. While they may hold different beliefs concerning the importance of the culture of their progenitors, they all lead lives undefined by the roles expected by society based on their heritage.. King and Douglass both identify with their ancestral roots. Ehrenreich remains decidedly unaffiliated with her ancestry, a result of her being raised without any cultural traditions. Conversely, society defined both King and Douglass by the color of their skin and expected them to be the willing victims of slavery and segregation. They broke those roles by becoming

In the essay Blood Ties, Alex Mar tells the history of her famous ancestor Juan Ponce. Mar points out that Ponce was a conquistador who set out to conquer parts of the Americas, but in doing so, committed multiple atrocities. Because of the actions of her ancestors, Mar believes that the choices her ancestors made will reflect on how she is viewed and the guilt will carry on or as she puts it “inherit the darkness.” From this reading, I believe people celebrate and choose to remember the positive things that their ancestors did, but censor what they deem to reflect negatively on them. By doing this, we are essentially holding back the truths that have made our families what they are regardless if the truth sheds a negative light on us. For

Even though I identify the most with Native American, I appreciate the other pieces of my heritage as well. This helped me to view the points the author made with some understanding. I was also reminded of a recent controversy in which a Caucasian woman felt as though she identified as an African-American. The idea is parallel to this story in that both the author and the woman classified themselves differently from their own lineage. For this, they were not only looked upon with negativity, but judged for their own personal designation of how they identified

In his essay “ Blaxicans and other reinvented Americans” Richard Rodriguez uses irony to strengthen his actual and intended point that someone's identity can be influenced based on their own surroundings. Identifying with a culture is not something you are born with, the culture that is identified by a person can all depend on where they were raised. It would all depend on what they are used to seeing and, how they are used to living from day to day life. Richard Rodriguez was asked by Bill Moyer what he identified as and he responded with,” I am Chinese...I have lived in a Chinese city for so long that my eye has taken on that palette..” (163-169). In other words, Rodriguez is basing his culture on where he grew up and what he eventually got

For this reflection paper I asked my boyfriend Victor if I could observe his way of walking. I chose to imitate him because despite the fact that we are both Hispanic, he is Mexican-American and I am Salvadorian-American, and we both grew up in two different cities in Texas. Even though Dallas is similar to Houston in many ways, it is much smaller and there are stores closer to the neighborhoods whereas my growing up in Houston consisted of driving a few miles every time to just find a Wal-Mart. He has been to Mexico many times since his birth, and I have failed to go to El Salvador even once in my lifetime. My family’s culture is very American-patriotic, and even thought our roots are Latino our first language is English, while Victor has grown up listening to Mexican music his whole life, and addresses his parents in Spanish. I feel like our cultures are very different, and our environment has shaped our development in unique ways we might not consider. Like Deidre Sklar

Have you ever seen someone ashamed of their heritage? In “The Medicine Bag” by Virginia Driving Hawk a young boy called Martin was ashamed of wearing the medicine bag. On the other hand, in “Who Are You Today Maria?” by Judith Ortiz Coffer, Maria wore her grandmother’s shawl to represent who she is. Both Martin and Maria had something to represent their heritage with. Although Martin and Maria had different relationships with their grandparents, and are from different countries, both learned to be proud of their heritage at the end.