I was born in Chicago and at the age of 3 my family moved to Alabama. I felt like an outsider my whole life not understanding the southern heritage life style. My parents seperated when I was 5 and I found myself living with my Dad and two brothers. I was not a girly-girl to say the least. As I got older and then was court ordered to move in with my mom, things changed. I know had a little half-brother who would grow up to be my best friend. Throughout high school I would turn to my family in support with bullies and petty girl drama. They were my rock. My Junior and Senior year were the toughest emotionally. I found myself in love with a guy who a "southern girl" should not date. His ex made it her life mission to break me down and break
Growing up was a nightmare. Reason being, my parents divorced when I was in the fourth grade and I had to live with whoever would have me. I was shuffled from Aunt to Aunt until I graduated high school.
When I moved to the small town of Luther, Oklahoma I didn 't talk much. I was shy and had trouble making friends. I couldn 't care less about my schoolwork, even though my teachers thought I was very bright. I wasn 't interested in sports. At my old school I was active in Girl Scouts, but I lost interest in that a year or two after moving.
I was born in New Orleans, but raised in Brooklyn. For several reasons my parents decided to leave NOLA shorty after my birth. From then on, I was raised in New York state; more specifically Brooklyn. It wasn't until the age of sixteen that I finally returned to my home city. My parents had just divorced and for that reason, my mother no longer wished to stay in New York.
I live in a minuscule town in Western North Carolina, where southern traditions are very important to the majority of the population. Such as drinking sweet tea, eating biscuits and gravy, and going to church. Here within one of those important traditions lies why I had to take such a significant risk. At the beginning of my eighth grade year of middle school, only a mere thirteen years of age, I knew I was different. However, what made me different would surely turn many against me.
The community I grew up in central Texas celebrated my heritage, honored differences in culture, and fostered personal growth and self-discovery. My parents, with the strong work ethic they developed on their family’s farms in Ghana, encouraged my brother and me to work hard and find ways to use our skills to be of service to others, which wasn’t hard to do growing up in Austin with its many avenues to become involved and take care of the community, whether it was helping to direct families through the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park during the winter or raise money for educational programs for underprivileged kids in the area through working the concession stands at the University of Texas at Austin. It was this collaborative mindset that Austin
Now, the laid back southern life to me, is the way to go! No one is ever in a hurry it seems, just moseying along at their own tempo of life. Sitting back relaxing in the yard with family and friends talking about everything under the sky, laughing and cutting up with one another, having a cook-out or a late night bonfire enjoying the night air, sippin’ on some sweet tea, is what is special in my heart.
Growing up in southwest Atlanta, Georgia, I have been surrounded by ‘black success’ instead of just ‘success’ for the duration of my life. The blacks in my area are equally as successful, if not more accomplished than, the non-blacks, but we are always titled separately and put into a captive box. The box we are held in told young girls that they should aspire to be athletes, cosmetologists, or plain unemployed. The same box told young men that they could only be considered “somebody” if they were able to catch a ball well. These are occupations we would ‘best be suited for’; these are occupations that perpetuate the box.
Personal Narrative Have You ever wanted to know what South Carolina is like? Well, Im going to tell you how it is down their. I was only 5 or 6 when i moved down there and we used live in dayton OH, but it took us about a week to decide if we wanted to move and pack up everything. At the time we had 3 dogs Trooper, Oatie, and Patches. I wanted oatie to go with us
The negative treatment and pain I received as a black girl, and still into my adulthood, it amazes me how I'm still standing tall and strong. It amazes me how people have tried to break me, even my own kind, but I'm still here. Truth is I gotta to have thick skin and protect myself, because I got no choice. If I don't... who will? And that is the everyday life of living as a black woman.
I have lived in Pensacola, Florida for my whole life. I have lived in the same house since I was six years old, and before that I lived in an apartment by my elementary school. I went to Jim Allen Elementary School where I spent kindergarten through fifth grade. I had to be homeschooled for half of my first-grade year, and half of my second-grade year because I was going through cancer treatments as a young girl. I then went to Ransom Middle School for sixth and eighth-grade because I had to be homeschooled again in seventh grade due to having a major surgery.
Growing up in Texas What is it like growing up in Texas? I have people always state that their home state is the best place to grow up, but I can honestly say where I grew up was the best. We had some much to do and so much to see.
One day in July, my Aunt Beeh asked me and my sister Tiffany if we could pick up her daughters’ from their dads’ house in Atlanta. We both knew that our mom wouldn’t have a problem with us taking a day trip to Atlanta. However we knew our dad would say no. Our mom just told us “Just tell him you’re going halfway to pick them up.” And that’s exactly what we did.
I was to immediately move across country to live with my strict uncle and his family of six after my parents discovered I had a boyfriend at the age of fifteen. They were afraid I was brainwashed by the American culture. They thought it was best to move us from Phoenix, Arizona to Shelby Township, Michigan to be around people of my ethnicity, mostly my family. I remember crying the entire way there, the tears running down my face began to expose streaks due to the non-water-proof loreal foundation I had on. my father tried to convince me that my destiny was in Michigan.
Alabama Trip My mom and and dad told me in December that we were going to Gulf Shores, Alabama to visit my grandparents. Gulf Shores is the southernmost town in Alabama, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico. I have been there twice when I was little. I remember that I collected seashells and went swimming with Boppa in the pool.
Growing up my parents instilled in me that I was beautiful and my skin was beautiful. It was clear to me that everyone else didn’t feel the same way. I went to a couple different schools throughout my life starting with a predominantly black school then a predominantly white school then a very diverse school and at each one I still experienced colorism. At the black school I was not liked because I was darkskin and my hair was kinky and I was just not as pretty as the light skinned girls.