What Does My Stepdad Mean To Me

Decent Essays
When my mom married my stepdad it was like a whole new perspective was brought into my life. When he felt passionate about a topic, you had to be ready to take a seat and listen. During these lessons with him I learned a lot about the history of African Americans; this made me start to look at life in a whole new light. I would dive into the words of articles, books, poems and stories from African Americans, letting the information dance across my brain and into my identity.
My stepdad helped me to understand that I came from these people. He guided me on a path full of twists and turns related to society. In this case, the light at the end of the road was an awakening. I had connected to hidden secrets in this world. As I got older I began

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Hello my name is Mary Elizabeth Bowser. I was born on a plantation owned by John Van Lew in Richmond Virginia, sometime around 1839. After John’s death, sometime between 1843 and 1851, his wife and daughter freed some of his slaves, including myself. Although freed, I stayed on as servant for the family until the late 1850’s. Elizabeth, John Van Lew’s daughter, sent me to a Quaker school for African American’s in Philadelphia.…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to the Census Bureau, in 2050 the number of U.S. residents identifying themselves as being of two or more races is projected to more than triple, increasing to 16.2 million from its current 5.2 million. The concept of multiculturalism has become familiar to more people than ever. But back in the 1980s, being multiracial means being rejected from both cultures and constantly questioning about one’s identity. James McBride portrayed insightfully this problem through “What color is Jesus?”…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Unpacking: Black in America For the cultural event I attended a seminar at the African American resource center at Cal State Fullerton. The seminar focused on “Unpacking: Black in America” gathered African American students from CSUF to speak upon how they felt as a minority in this country. They also shared out their personal stories and experiences on being African American. Gwendolyn Alexis is a faculty liaison for the African American Resource Center who facilitated the event. Professor Alexis is an advocate for African American and minorities she brings knowledge and support for these communities.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I learned the world's true colors from merely glancing at the people around me. Watching my grandmother care for my sister and I. Looking back in those days, it seemed as though that I was raising my younger sister, teaching her right from wrong, and helping her through school. Nobody, but I, was around when she wept and other days I'd cry along with her because I wished for my mom, too.…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The African-American survived due to the fact they helped each other, they took care of each other not only blood relatives but others also. During slavery everyone helped to raise each other’s children especially when parents were sold to other slave owners, other adults in the slave community took care of the children left behind, many slaves protected each other in spite of tribal and language differences. The biggest fear of families then was the threat of a child being sold. Even today African-Americans value family, many survive due to the fact that we help each other, and we take care of each other not only blood relatives but others also. The extended family is crucial.…

    • 2564 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Being that I am an African American female who has worked closely with teen mothers who were raised by another teen mother, I have seen firsthand the advantages of having an extended family. Berk (2014) discusses why extended families are critical in the African American community, which I found extremely interesting since I have personally seen the importance of extended families in all ethnicities. One of the advantages Berk (2014) discusses is how extended families can relieve stress and burden versus a single family. In normal extended family situations, financial obligations and other responsibilities are shared, therefore lowering stress off the main caregiver’s plate. Additionally, there is usually an adult who has a higher maturity…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To gain a better understanding of the African American family, one must study the African philosophy and cosmology. By learning about the philosophies origins and its five themes, the black family will be able to harmonize itself and begin to see what is wrong with research done by people like E. Franklin Frazier and Daniel Moynihan. Once this is accomplished the black family can free itself from western conceptual incarceration. There are five central themes in African philosophy and cosmology that are outlined by T’Shaka. These themes are harmonious twin-ness, unicity, Maat, Nommo or the word, and transformation and change from the lower self to higher through spiral motion (T’Shaka 90).…

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Even after the Civil War, in which all African-Americans no longer were deemed as slaves, the life of the black person did not get easier. For generations, the struggle to come out of impoverished lifestyles had been deemed as almost impossible. Faced by segregation, no equal rights, and the KKK, the newly freed African-Americans were not able to completely submerge themselves to “freedom”. Little by little, new opportunities emerged; however, the depths of acrimony and pain prevented blacks to completely embrace them. Those who fought for the chance to make history, emerged successful, but those who let the past hold them back, continued to live in the restrictions of the past.…

    • 1992 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Summary of the Article; key concepts The Topic relates to African American grandparents turn custodial parents. The key issue is (Cox, 2002) the changes in family structure and changing social condition the role of grandparents in the United States is being redefined and resuming custodial roles in the lives of their grandchildren. Grandmother unique strengths and abilities have to learn in their older years how to take care of the children and themselves. The empowerment was built on the foundation of developing self-efficacy focus on the problems of the population of grandparents in the communities raising their grandchildren.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Puerto Rican Experience

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One foot rooted in urban Puerto Rican heritage and the other having been later immersed in the Southern black experience as an adult, I have learned to merge the conceivably disparate cultures of my family. Each afforded me a unique point of view, developing the self-assurance that has empowered me to succeed in the face of adversity. Being of Puerto Rican descent in the inner city kept the lack of financial stability of my youth in view and motivated me to pursue my education. As a black American female I learned the value of diversity, having experienced first-hand the misconceptions that can shape in a homogeneous environment. For instance from being called “too much of a free-spirited city girl,” in the country to later being “too old-fashioned…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In addition to helping me understand myself within the context of my multigenerational family, cultural, historical, and personal characteristic aspects have impacted my understanding of…

    • 1602 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My father is African-American and my Mother is Mexican, Spanish, and Irish. As a child I frequently asked my mom the same question that filled my thoughts, “Mom, Who am I?” Without hesitation, her answer was always the same, “You’re a lot of things.” To my mother this was a simple answer to a simple question. However, her reply never completely satisfied my need to understand my place in the world.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Family is a diverse and complicated concept in which many researchers have come up with different conclusions. Family definition is not complete without the incorporation of race and ethnicity. Race and ethnicity complete the full definition of family. This is done by the incorporation of everyone’s history. In order to fully understand family focus should be placed in society as a whole, instead of section.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Have you ever blamed yourself for a specific situation? While growing up with my mother, who is a single parent of two. I always blamed myself for my mom and dad’s separation. Never had I thought I would get over not having a father figure in my life. Although, yes it was difficult but it made me who I am today.…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Through the different theories of personality, one can come to better understand who they are as an individual, and how they got to their current state. Personality is a complex variable which factors into our daily life. Personality has personally shaped us all as individuals, and will continue to be an apparent factor in our daily lives. Through the study of personality, we can better understand ourselves and our community. In this paper I will reflect on my own childhood experiences, the ways in which they shaped me, and the theory I find most relevant.…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays