The Impact of Ethnicity on My Family of Origin

The Impact of Ethnicity on My Family of Origin

Tasheeka Williams

Human Development & the Family

Professor Jerry Petell

April 23, 2013

Abstract

African Americans or Black Americans form the second largest minority group in the United States today and are an important part of the economic, political and historical structure of modern America. Family is a basic unit in every society. However, the makeup of a family is more complex to define. There are so many types of families that it is impossible to have one distinct definition in trying to explain what a true family is. For example, there are married couples with or without children, single-parent families, and even families headed by gay men or lesbians. These may not have been considered families not too long ago, but now must be recognized because we live in such a diverse society. What I will focus on in this paper is the African-American family, my family specifically, in terms of ethnicity and its impact on my family in regards to intergenerational themes, strengths, and weaknesses.

The Impact of Ethnicity on My Family of Origin

Keeping with the legacy of American history, the African American family is a topic of controversy and concern. While other aspects of the family are studied, it could be argued that the area of African American motherhood receives the most attention. Unequivocally, African American mothers are depicted as matriarchs, crack-mothers, and welfare queens. In addition, Black mothers are often portrayed as lazy, irresponsible, destructive, and even worthless. These stereotypical images of African American mothers are important because they have powerful implications for African American moms, and for their families at large. I come from a family dominated by strong women who we're not perfect and who made many mistakes. However, our sense of perseverance and determination has always been phenomenal.

A "Brief" History

My grandmother (or Nana), Juanita Williams was born in Winter Park, Florida on November 9th, 1920. She has been and continues to be very secretive about her past which has led to many assumptions throughout my family as to what her life was like growing up until she moved to New York at a young age. In the time between World War I and World War II, African Americans faced many forms of discrimination. After World War I, during the 1920's, driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregation laws, some 800,000 African Americans moved north to cities such as Detroit, New York City and Chicago where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers that first arose during the First World War. However, the North was not free of bigotry. Migrants were forced to deal with poor working conditions and competition for living space, as well as widespread racism and prejudice. Nevertheless, African Americans began to build a new place for themselves in public life, actively confronting economic, political and social challenges and creating a new black urban culture that would implement enormous influence in the decades to come. My Nana, a fiercely independent young woman, would work several humble jobs (i.e.: sewing, piecework, cleaning, etc.) at once to "earn her keep" while living with extended family members who had previously migrated north. Also during this time, she began dating or "keeping time" with my maternal grandfather, James Henry Williams. James was a chef who had worked his way up from dishwashing and counting silverware for the company Horn & Hardart, a food services company in the United States noted for operating the first food service automats in Philadelphia and New York City. With James' help, Nana was able to afford an apartment for herself in Harlem, N.Y. during the Harlem Renaissance. Thereafter, the couple conceived their first child, James Ronald Williams and was said to have married. Two years later my mother, Karen Williams, was born. Nana always said that my mother was the cause of her and James' relationship decline because he did not want any additional children. Their relationship was also said to be volatile and uncertain. The truth (family secret) my family learned after I was already an adult and parent was that Nana and James were never married or even cohabitated, for that matter. Furthermore, James was already happily married to his childhood sweetheart (they never had children) and would remain married to her until her death years later. My mother and Uncle Ronnie were the result of a clandestine affair and Nana falsely (I don't know what the legalities were at that time to allow such a process) assumed James' last name as her 'married name'. I believe that James relationships with both his children were significantly strained because of these secretive circumstances. In fact, it wasn't until he was approaching death that their relationships were somewhat mended. Again, my grandmother wasn't the type of woman that you could question about anything and get a straight answer or without a fight.

A single parent family from the start, there was favoritism shown between Uncle Ronnie and my mother. Nana has always shown so much love and care when it comes to her son, while my mother was left feeling emotionally neglected and verbally abused because Nana blamed her for the failures in her life. As children, Ronnie and Karen were disciplined differently with Karen receiving the more violent and fierce punishments causing a life-long sibling rivalry between the two. Still, my mother was in awe of her mother and became an overachiever to gain her mother's favor finding that she would never be able to do well enough to receive the love that her brother effortlessly received. Karen's relationship with her parents would of course later affect her relationships with men, relationships with her own children, as well as her relationship with self.

At age 15, my mother would meet my father, James L. Butler, at the Young Harlem Community Workers community center. Soon thereafter, to the dismay of my grandmother, they conceived me. I was born during a blizzard in Harlem Hospital on December 24th, 1974. Under aged and unmarried, James, Karen and 'Baby Me' we're able to cohabitate but it wasn't