My Great Grandmother

“I didn’t learn to be quiet when I had an opinion . The reason they knew who I was is because I told them.” (Ursula Burns)

Based upon what I have learned after interviewing my grandmother over the 1960’s era, I came to understand what it was like for those that lived during that time. The 1960’s was a time of change. The ideas of politics, society, and overall way of life was completely transforming. The idea of revolution some would say grew as a heavy thought throughout a lot of Americans during the time especially in the younger generations. Though America was facing it conflicts in society with culture change, racism and foreign policies, the country itself was growing. The United States became a place where once ideas only mankind could only dream about were becoming real. This paving the way for America to take the roll in securing its title the greatest country on Earth.

With the passing of my mother, I no longer reflect on , defining gender roles within my family anymore. My father role was now the financial provider and homemaker. He took me to school every day, made sure I had dinner each night and when I needed

Growing up my family was always very close. We were always together; whether it was going to church or going to the ball field. My mother raised me as a single mother. She would work a lot of hours at work and my grandparents would watch me. They would take me to school and ball practices. Where sometimes my mom could not make it, she would always tell my grandparents to tell me something

Throughout my life, I have been extremely family-oriented as I have luck enough to get to know my grandparents and various cousins. My grandpa was my role model and introduced me to fishing and camping. After I joined Boy Scouts, he hoped to attend trips with the troop and gave me his tent and bought me camping gear at Christmas time. Watching how

To start things off I lived in one big house with my Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, Grandma and Grandpa up until I was about thirteen. When I was little I thought I had the most perfect family every, or at least that’s what I wanted to think. I would spend most of my afternoons with my Grandpa at the park or getting ice cream. He would always be the one encouraging me to go church and pray. He’s also the one who wanted me to be in private schools. The rest of my family followed

When I was younger I did find myself considering the role of gender. I did this mostly to declare that I would not fall into the stereotypical gender role like my mother did. My parents were very traditional when it came to gender roles. My mother was the stay at home parent who did all the stereotypical female gender chores. She took care of my father, cooked, cleaned, and depended on my father to do manly chores around the house. Now that I am older and married myself, I find that I too have slipped into some of the same gender roles as my mother. I do most of cooking, cleaning, and will not take out the trash. I will not work on the car or fix things around the house. My husband and teenage son are in charge of these chores. However, I am teaching my son how to cook and my daughter to work outside in the yard. Looking back, I do find it is funny how I so loudly declared as a teenager that I would never be like my mother cooking and cleaning, and ended up a lot like her!

Starting in 1990’s my mom is a foster home for newborns and infants. When parents can not take care of their children they go into loving foster homes. My mom will go to the hospital and pick up day old baby’s and take care of them till the parents can take care of them or adopted into willing homes where they will live a full and happy life. My birth mom has bipolar and depression and had a 3 grade level across the boards and my birth dad has a obsessive compulsive disorder and has a 4th grade level across the boards so when i was born it was so hard for them to take care of me. With my parents not knowing how to raise my child protective services came in and put me into foster care. My mom got a call and was told that a little girl needed

The day August 10 2013 was a day both full of joy and sorrow. A day my family would never forget. The day I had lost my grandfather, the matriarch of the family. A man who was loving, kind , humble and all the things a child and grandchild could ever ask for. That day was supposed to be fun and full of joy. A day I had spent not even knowing that the time with my grandfather was up, he was needed somewhere else. I knew he was leaving, just not then, not at a time when I needed him and his wise words. I was with him the whole day, but ignoring the warning of time, and poof, my life changed.

When I was much younger and still growing up, and even now, my mother would always make sure that they boys and the girls participated in activities which were geared towards our respective sex and gender. An example that comes to mind is that at dinner time we all come and eat together at the table, and once the meal is over the boys and men get up and go to watch TV, play video games, go outside, etc. but my mother, my younger sister, and I stay inside to clean up everybody's plates/ dishes, the table, and the kitchen area. I never really thought much of it until I was in middle school because one day I grew a little agitated that we always had to stay inside and do housework while my brothers could go outside and play, or watch TV instead. So I asked my mom, "Why do I have to clean up and my brother doesn't?" and she responded that I was a girl so that it was my job, she said because I am a girl it was my job to clean up after the men of the family, clean the kitchen, the bedrooms, and help do the laundry while the males never had to because that's just not what they

Gender roles and the attributes that a person is believed to need, in order to be male or female, has at times, affected me negatively throughout my life. I never questioned my gender as a child, but made the connection that our society views femininity with being biologically born female and masculinity with being male. I didn 't have much of a problem going outside of my assigned gender roles as that is what my parents exposed me to. My father though, he fits the traditional roles of a man; going to work and providing for his family, did many things that are considered women 's roles: taking care of his kids, cooking, cleaning, he was very nurturing and often did not discipline us as harshly as my mother, etc. My mother seemed to fit

My grandmother had always filled my child mind with memories of her kids childhood such as how they were the four musketeers and were just like “The Brady Bunch” I always thought my grandmother was beautiful, kind, Christian woman, who loved her family more than life, but those were lies I soon figured out from my mom and aunt. My grandmother has MS(Multiple Sclerosis) a disease that has taken her ability to work and care for herself and complete everyday tasks. It has progressively gotten worse since I was around five or six so my mom and grandmother decided to have her move in with us and trust me that was like uprooting a tree, but the tree was a 90 pound all skin and bones hunched over old woman from the cramped white house she’d lived in for years. My grandmother had become an onion and with every layer you peeled back you learned more of the truth even if it hurt. I learned what my mom and aunt had gone through as kids and why my grandpa really left this woman I’ve never known.

My research garment will be taken from a picture of my Grandmother, Jean Griffin. My grandmother (J.B.Griffin, personal communication, October, 15, 2015) described all the details about this photograph. She said she is pictured at 23 years old walking her 10-month old daughter, Mary Joyce. Jean is my maternal grandmother, and has three boys and four girls. Jean dressed up everywhere she went. Whether she was going to the store or church, she always had makeup, heels, and a nice outfit. My mother (J.G Jackson, personal communication, October 17, 2015) states this picture represents Jean’s daily life. She didn’t have a driver’s license, so she walked everywhere. This picture was taken in San Diego, California, in April, of 1959. My grandparents and their children moved to San Diego so my Grandfather John could do his internship and residency at the Naval Hospital. If observing the photograph carefully enough Jean has s a small baby bump. Jean was 5 months pregnant with her second child James. She is wearing a Maternity jacket and a skirt. The jacket has a bow neck collar with a large bow. The sleeves have ruching with buttons at the hem of the sleeve. The jacket is straight with no defined waist. The structure of the jacket was made for a pregnant woman so it would allow someone to continue to wear it throughout her pregnancy. The skirt hits mid calf and is also a loose straight skirt. Both garments in the ensemble are not form fitting. The ensemble at first looks as if it

My Great-Great Grandmother, Etta Kate Deloach Haskins, lived through some of America's greatest historical events from 1913- 2000. She was born before the beginning of the First World War, and grew up seeing women grow openly, publicly, and unashamedly independent. She witnessed the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II first hand as a young adult, while marrying and raising a family. My Great- Great Grandmother saw the assassination of a president while her only grandchild was a teenager. Mrs. Haskins experienced life during the Korean War and Vietnam War while her grandson was getting married, making her a Great- Grandmother. Mrs. Etta Kate Deloach Haskins was alive through a few of the moments that the shaped the U.S. into the country that we live in today. (Gale)

Living next door to my grandparents, I remember my mother saying, “Go help your grandfather because he is cutting the grass,” or “Go help your grandmother with the groceries.” Eventually it became a natural thing to do; to go over their house and help with whatever they needed. As I grew older, my parents encouraged me to be socially involved in extra-curricular activities bringing me more responsibilities. I started tutoring afterschool, read to kindergarten students during “El Día del Nino.”, helped during “Clean our beach day”, filled boxes with food items and helped deliver them to church