Critical Project #1 - Ancestry

The ancestors on my mother's side of the family came from Somalia; St. Croix (my grandparents were born there before Denmark sold it to the United States) and Ireland due to interracial marriages. My father's side of the family is indigenous to the United States. My grandmother never spoke spoke about her side of the family being enslaved but she did mention that her grandmother or great grandmother was a Blackfoot Indian. My grandparents on my mother's side came to the United States during the early 1920's. Several members of my family including myself have experienced racism and discrimination at some point during our lives because we are Black. One incident in particular happened during the 60's when my mother decided to participate in the busing for integration plan in New York City. She decided to have my sister and I bussed to a school located in a white neighborhood which was far from where we lived. I remember seeing people standing outside the school with picket signs and chanting. We did not experience the violence as some children did in the South but it was still made clear that they did not want us there.