My Family Legacy Of My Grandmother - 1325 Words

â€Å"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it† (Maya Angelou). My grandmother, a sixty-year-old woman, with a mind-set of a thirty-year old, is one of the most intelligent, outgoing people I’ve ever met. Her ability to make everyone around her feel special amazes me because everyone loves her and so do I. My grandmother defines our family legacy as â€Å"One of a tradition and hard work. Overcoming obstacles that are faced in everyday life.† â€Å"Within a family that has values, honesty, integrity, a strong work ethic and religion.† â€Å"I was born on October 1, 1948, in Braidwood, Illinois.† I was raised in a middle class family where my father was an orphaned at age of twelve and had to help raise his siblings. As he got†¦show more content†¦There were only 2 black kids in my class and only five in the whole school. By second grade I started to pick up my grades and focus on school. I went to Reid Cust er High School in Braidwood, Illinois. I had a few more good girl friends then, but never went to any proms. I used to go to shows with my friends. We would often try to catch a movie on the weekends and sometimes in the summer we would go to get away from the heat because it was much cooler in theater, than it was in my home. In school, I took college prep classes to prepare myself.† She took these classes to prepare herself for college and get an education because her family was very strict on her about exceeding because she was on one African American girl out of five in her school. In todays society our class rooms are more diverse and vary from all races. In my college classes I find people of all different ethnic backgrounds and see that there isn’t just one dominant race in each class as my grandmother experienced. â€Å"First, I went to Joliet Junior College. I didn’t have a lot of money to go to college since I came from a working class family, so I went and graduated from there. There was some prejudice against me from other black kids because they didn’t like that I hung around with the white kids. I now have some black friends that I met there that I have been friends with for 40 years now. My grandmother felt separated form her own race because she hung around another race but she didn’t care becauseShow MoreRelatedMy Experience With My Grandmother1692 Words   |  7 Pagesinto contact with at a job someone I can learn from. Whenever I listen to other people talk about their mentors I always think of my family, specially my maternal grandmother. It was her strength and presence that shaped who I am in both my professional and personal life. My grandmother and relatives have always been my strength and guiding force. If my grandmother was alive today, and I told her I was going to interview her, she would laugh and say †I have nothing to say.† She wasn’t someoneRead MoreMy Family History - Essay1015 Words   |  5 PagesDouglas Douglas 1 2-6-12 My family history In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.† –Alex Haley This quote explained to me the importance of my grandparent’s legacy and their history. A long twisting family tree inspires one who does not knowRead MoreCultural Identity : My Family1518 Words   |  7 Pages My cultural identity has been well established by my family of origin. From my perspective, my family is one-sided because I do not spend much time with my father’s family. 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She had grown up worlds away fromRead MoreWho Should Be Convicted For Life For A Heinous Crime949 Words   |  4 PagesI can remember the first time ever stealing candy from my grandmother’s candy store. I grabbed a handful of green apple tootsie rolls, the tiny ones; my grandmother only charged two cents for. I had enough to last me all day at school at least I thought I did. The elution of having all of eight green apple tootsie rolls in the palm of my tiny hand excited me about the rest of the day. My grandmother would yell from her room, â€Å"hurry up and get ready before you miss breakfast at school† little didRead MoreMy Experience At The Genogram Assignment Essay1403 Words   |  6 Pagesam as a person and where some of my characteristics stem from. Of ten times, when comparing oneself to a sibling or relative, we only look at the physical appearances, me included. After completing my family’s Genogram, I’ve also learned more about my family then I did previously. Who knew my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother had nineteen siblings combined! My Great Grandfather had nine and my Great Grandmother had ten. Throughout this paper, I will discuss my family’s historical, cultural, lifestyleRead MoreEveryday Use And My Papa s Waltz931 Words   |  4 PagesEveryday Use and My Papa’s Waltz both show strong family connections. Everyday Use is a centered around an African-American and their family roots. One daughter has chosen to leave her past behind in order to have a better life while the other daughter has chosen to stay close to her roots. My Papa’s Waltz is centered on a small boy and his father. This poem shows the love a boy has for his father with a deep desire to stay close to him. Everyday Use begins with the narrator, Mrs. Johnson, sayingRead MoreThe Idea of Ancestry907 Words   |  4 PagesJanina Conopio ENGL 1302 (Omar) 3/17/2013 Why â€Å"The Idea of Ancestry† Matters Often times a person lives their life based on how their own family would see it. Whether it disappoints or makes their family proud, it is inevitable; a person’s family will forever remain an important factor in their life, actions and the consequences that come with it. In â€Å"The Idea of Ancestry†, the author Etheridge Knight writes a poem where it is obvious that he is guilty of his actions and the shame and hurtRead MoreWhat Is The Legacy Of World War 1926 Words   |  4 Pagesmost festered is the legacy of World War I. It has left an indelible mark on my life. The other day I spotted the corner of an album tucked carefully under my mother’s wedding dress in the attic. In the album I saw a photograph of Father proudly smiling in his soldier’s uniform. There were photos of Father and I tightly hugging each other, grinning at one another, and Father playfully flinging me into the air. They were all frozen, nostalgic moments in time. Tears brimmed my eyes as I recalled memories