Narrative Essay On African American Culture

As far as my memory stretch, I have always shown interest and curiosity towards my ancestry. Every human has, at some point, asked this very almost clichéd but fundamental question: Who am I? Because it is commonly believe that the answer to this question lies within one’s past. And in order to fully comprehend one’s present, prepare for the future and prevent history from repeating itself, this question must be answered. Personally, the response to this question is a blur. In fact, it is the norm for most, if not every, Haitian person. In the same way, the African Americans are no exemption to this blur. This essay will attempt to explain the grey areas in my family tree, analyze the known information and determine how the past impact my life. Presumably, since slavery happened both in the United States and Haiti, the next few …show more content…
In Haiti, It is very different. Like America, the upper, middle and lower classes divides the population. However, Haiti is not as racially and ethnically diverse and the United States. Because sexual activities were so common between masters and slaves, a new class of individuals emerged in Haiti during the time of the French colonization. This class were called Mulatos and were the children that result from sexual relationships between masters and slaves. These individuals were given privileges that that slaves did not and were sometimes wealthy enough to own slaves. Even now, over 200 years after the independence, the mulatos remain, overall, wealthier than the rest of the population. Moreover, they inter-marry and almost never date outside of the group. Because of that, they live separate from the rest of the population. With that in mind, it is safe to assume that there were not any inter-racial marriages within my family. If there were, It must have been too long ago to make a difference in both the financial situation and the physical appearance of the members of my