How Strong Is Your Ethnic Identity

I was born in Barron, Wisconsin to my Mom and Dad, Jennie and Jesse Nitchey. When I was brought home While I was being born my parents where in the process of building our three story house that we still call home today.

My family plays an important role in my life. I have a strong relationship with my parents, three sisters, two older brothers and my husband. My younger brother left the home when he was 12 years old and the family has no contact with him. My family strength is our support system and helping each other out. The other systems education, work, social interaction and health are also important in my life.

There is a massive amount of ethnicities in this world. You have ethnic groups that are not necessarily related to where you came from but what group you identify yourself with. As a descendant who speaks the Spanish language we are categorized as being part of the Hispanic ethnic group. My father having twelve siblings and my mother having nine, it was a huge family. Our grandparents and parents inculcated us to be a united family with all the values and beliefs they initiated. Every ethnic group is similar but different in its own unique way. In which some have music, food and believes that characterize us as that specific ethnic group. The only difference is the way people embrace it. We also have many different types of celebrations

I was born here in Chicago but was raised in a small Illinois town near Iowa. I later returned to my roots as an adult and have raised my own family in the Chicagoland area in (South Suburban) Steger, Illinois. I am a wife, mother and recently became a grandmother.

I feel that ethnicity is closely tied to family. My family is strongly Matriarchal with all special occasions such as birthdays (including the Queen of England’s) and Christmases celebrated at one of the Grandmother’s houses. Women play an important role in my family, they are the homemakers and the ones

I was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and I was the first child of my family. When I was one we moved to Arizona for a year. Then when we moved back to Indiana my sister was born, and now I have three brothers and three sisters. My life has taken taken some twists and turns and now I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a manager of agents for artists, performers and athletes.

As an African-American in the United States, I participate in activities to help me identify with my race. Yes, there are many types of African-Americans, but we all share similar ideas, values, and traditions that bring everyone closer. As African-Americans, we strongly believe in religion. Since slavery, religion has played a tremendous role in contributing to our beliefs. We believe there is a greater divine who knows our purpose, and has the power to control it. In addition, we believe prayer changes things especially when times become rough and unbearable. It is common for Black children to “grow-up” in the church and attend with their families every Sunday. Although I am in college, this has not change. I attempt to at least go twice out the month.

One way we all came together was in celebration of Hispanic cultural holidays and traditions, for example, every May 5th Hispanic and Non-Hispanics in New Mexico celebrated “Cinco de Mayo” which is an annual celebration to commemorate the Mexican Army's victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla. A way that I joined in celebration of Cinco de Mayo with the Hispanic community was I dressed for the occasion. I wore green, white and red clothing and accessories which symbolized the Mexican flag. I would also partake in hitting a “piñata”, which is a decorated figure usually an animal that contains toys and candy, piñatas are suspended from a height and broke open by blindfolded children as part of a celebration. Another well-known Hispanic celebration is "Dia de los Muertos", or the Day of the Dead. This holiday is celebrated on November 2, on this day alters are built where favored and cherished items by dead relatives and friends are displayed in remembrance of them. People do this because they hope that the souls of their friends and relatives will visit and view the memorial. I would notmally partake in Dia de los Muertos and join the Hispanic community to celebrate. These holidays were celebrated so often that they became a norm and introduced me to cultural traditions which were different than my ancestry, even though my ancestors originated from Scotland and England, I still enjoyed indulging and celebrating Hispanic traditions and

I was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 2003, I came from a hospital called Mercy. I moved to Chicago when I was two years old, most of my family lived there but Then I had to move back to go to school in Dubuque. I started school when I was just three years old my first school was Fulton elementary I stayed there since kindergarten to second grade then I went to Houston, Texas with my mom for third and forth grade.

From the smell of my grandparents house of a kitchen filled with fruit and druitflies.

It connects me with my parents’ achievements and struggles in African. Ethnicity allows me to have something deeper and meaningful to connect with and explore over my lifespan. My personal goals, attitudes, values, and behaviors are impacted daily by my African roots. Hearing tribal my language, and sharing the same culture with my grandparents is heartwarming and encourages me to move back to Africa one day. My sense of ethnic identity is indeed associated with my positive personality treats. At the same time, my strong ties to Africa bring some burdens, such as the duty to care for my family, guilt that I live in the USA while most of my family reside in Africa. Every day I concealed the discomfort of not having a relationship with mother because I left Africa at a young

I do think that being from a military family, I found myself in another circle that shares common traditions and beliefs. I am a Christian and I believe that God is the creator of all. I think that my ethnicity plays into my culture and traditions. For example we all think that we have to prove ourselves to others just because we need to prove a point. Really we are equal in front of god. In addition I am mother of one so the other circles, the circles of moms. I think that African American people are fun to hang around and easy to sometimes talk to. I like that African American people can have fun but at the same time be serious when the time permits it.

My immediate family consists of myself, my Mother, Father, and younger Brother. We appear to be Caucasian, the ethnicity of my family has never been one of great importance. There have been few conversations about the ethnic background of our family. The value in this knowledge would appear to be minute. If I was asked what my ethnicity is I would give a wishy washy answer and perhaps some Dutch, German, Swedish, but it is never talked about in my family. Yet, in other families they take great pride in their ethnicity and is a key part of what bonds them together as a family unit. Their ethnicity is more intertwined with their culture, along with societal views than European families. All the same, my parents are somewhat older than the norm. My Mother is fifty five and my dad is Fifty three. They had my brother and me in their mid-thirties or so, though becoming more common now, was not typical for their time. However, instead of having older parents that do

My biggest support system in life is my family. I have been lucky enough to grow up with all my family living within walking distance of me. I don't know where I would be with out their influence and guidance. Recently my parents got a divorce. My sister and I started living with our father and lost our motherly influence in the home. My aunts and grandma stepped up to ensure that we were getting the support that we were lacing from our mother. I had to step up and help take care of my younger sister while my father was at work or was to busy to do things such as cook, clean and drive her where she needed to be. I was expected to grow up quickly in order to deal with all the recent changes that were happening in my our lives. Although it was

My parents immigrated to this country from Mexico many years ago and they brought along their culture, which makes up a major part of my identity. I am Mexican American and the stereotype that we have a lot of members in our family is true, but it doesn’t tell the full story. I have a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins and I am very grateful for them because each and every one of them has taught me important lessons that have shaped who I am today. When all of us are together we stand out because there are so many of us and we can also get very loud. We always know how to have a good time and we’re also the life of every party. Every Christmas eve we all get together at one of our aunt’s houses and celebrate the birth of Jesus. We set up a nacimiento, or Nativity set, made of figurines that represent the ones who were present during his birth. We cover the set with hay, surround it with little figurines of animals and drape Christmas lights all around the set. Then we do a rosary and commemorate the ones in our family who have passed or could not make it. During these celebrations we always have tamales, menudo, and hot chocolate. These foods are very important to us because most of the women in the family get together the day before the event and prepare the food. In this time we all have time to catch up on the latest gossip and drama that is going on in our lives. One thing that I have recently been interested in again is the traditional Aztec dances and rituals. When I was younger I used to participate in the dances with my mother but we had to quit due to the long and late hours of practice. I have started to go to retreats where we spend most of our nights dancing and praying to temples and different gods. Doing this makes me feel more connected to my ancestral roots and i feel a sense of pride.