Personal Narrative: My Changing American Family

Currently, I am living with my family. My family and I are connected biologically and emotionally. I feel that a family can be defined as a group of people (more than one person) whom one can share a connection with and depend on. My immediate family consists of my mother, grandmother, and two siblings. My mother and grandmother raised me. I was raised alongside with my younger half-brother and half-sister. At age two years old, my biological parents divorced. Both parents later remarried. When I was 10 years old, my father died. Technically, I have two half-siblings and a widowed step-mother on the paternal side of the family. However, I do not have any emotional relationship with them. Since my father funeral, I had not seen or spoken to …show more content…
Racial endogamy is the social landscape where people are expected to marry within their own racial groups (Rockquemore and Henderson 102). Both of my parents are under the racial category of Black or African-American. Their ethnic status would be Nigerians. When they each remarried, they married someone of the same race. In fact, 92 percent marriages of marriage fall under the category of racial endogamy (99). On another note, my biologically parents had an intercultural marriage. In “the Changing American Family” article, it discusses that the American family is moving away from the traditional family and becoming more socially egalitarian with time (Angier 2). My entire family originated from the Nigeria, Africa. My father was raised as a Muslim in Ibadan city. My mother was raised a Christian in Lagos city. They are both from different indigenous tribes, and they share two common languages. The languages are English and Yoruba. Therefore, my parent’s marriage is ethnically and religiously …show more content…
However, there was one expectation that was shared without gender bias. Parents often believe that education is important (Garcia 415). My siblings and I was expected to maintain excellent grades. Specifically, it should be noted my mother also valued my education. She did not want me to become a domestic housewife. She pushed me to pursue a degree. She still wants me to continue schooling at a graduate level. She pushed this mentality on the three of us. My mother felt she was a good role model because she was educated and had a good job. The Latina mothers in “This Is Your Job Now: Latina Mothers and Daughters and Family Work" felt the same way about being employed. My grandmother also pushed this mentality on us. She works as a Certified Nursing Assistant. She had repeatedly reminded us that education can help us avoid dirty and physically demanding jobs. The Latina mothers in Garcia study discussed wanting their children to do better than they did (415). Nevertheless, I was forced to juggle household responsibilities and school