Personal Narrative: The Identity Of African Americans

“Black, male, I would say intellectual, curious, fun,” This was Brandon’s response when I asked him about his identity. I met Brandon in the Undergraduate Library here on campus at 9:30 on a Thursday night. Brandon was born in Canada to two Ghanaian parents but spent a good portion of this life in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. This may have a lot to do with the way he responded to my question. Then I asked, “Would you consider yourself an American African” “Yes. I would consider myself an African American because I’m not fully African because I wasn’t born there. My parents were.” His response legitimated De Walt’s argument that African American includes so much more than it originally did when the term was first crafted. Brandon recognizes the different parts of his identity, and that he celebrates being an …show more content…
When asked about her identity she said, “when people ask me what are you I say I am a first generation Nigerian-American.” I didn’t expect such a specific answer. This led me to believe that she is something that thinks about her identity and has some answers to questions that I had. Fechi talked a lot about her experience being called the pretty African girl, “people think that [Africans] are unclean, that we smell and that well be ugly. People will say that you’re pretty for an African. The general perception of African people is negative in terms of beauty.” However she also stated that she thinks the majority of Americans see Africans as educated. This connects back to what Brandon said about success being the only option. Africans, regardless of what country they come from come to the United States for a reason. All Africa parents want their children to be Lawyers, doctors and engineers because they don’t want them to struggle like they did. This is way the population of African students on college campuses is growing. When they come to America going to college is the only