Cultural Portfolio Analysis

My ethnic/racial mixture is African American. I decided to choose African American as my ethnic/racial mixture for my cultural portfolio because that is not only how I characterize myself but also my relatives inside of my family tree. Starting with my grandparents on my paternal side. Dorothy Dent and Rufus Addison who had been married for 25 years had three children together Maria Addison, Frank Addison (my father), and Hyneisha Addison. Maria Addison had two children Toi Barnes, and Samaria Barnes which are my first cousins. Toi had one child Myles Barnes, and Samaria had two children Christopher Barnes and Caydence Barnes which are my second cousins. My father had two children as well my little brother Frank Gray and I. Hyneisha Addison

She frequently told me when I was younger that my black is beautiful, and I will not look the same as some of the other children in the schools I attend. I attended a diverse elementary school, which had different types of children from different cultures. Even though a lot of the children did not have the same race as me, they treated me no differently. She would also tell me that African Americans have to work twice as hard to receive opportunities and employment, which is why my mother forced education on me. I didn’t realize until I had became old enough to understand. I was taught that my skin complexion will be criticized oftentimes but in order for others to be accepting of it, I will first have to accept it myself. Now that I’m older, I am a proud African American. Even though my culture gets stereotyped by others by saying we are poor, we are lazy, we steal, all we eat is watermelon and chicken and etc. I believe that we all are beautiful, intelligent, hard workers. My African American cultural means so much to me because African Americans came a long way to get to where they are today. Things has changed tremendously for our culture and it is up to us as a whole to educate others about our culture. This is why I chose to attend a historical black college because I wanted to be around my culture. I wanted to connect with other African Americans from different parts of the world. It is a sight to see African