Personal Narrative: Growing Up As An African American Woman

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Growing up an African American female in poverty is hard. You constantly see your parents worry about making ends meet. They wonder will they be able to make their paycheck reach to the next paycheck. Being young and watching your mother struggle is something you do not understand. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised there until I was 5. In 2005 I move south to live in Abbeville, Al. By this time my mother and father separated and I was being raised by my mother, a single parent. Having moved to a smaller town from the big city was one of my very first obstacles. Everything is done differently in the south from how I was raised. They spoke differently and acted differently. This was just something I was not used too. I always knew how my mom raised …show more content…

My father still communicated but it was never the same. I was forced to grow up without that father figure in my life. I was never able to attend a father daughter dance or even seen my dad at one of my many extracurricular events. As I got older the foundation of how I was raised was still intact. I started to be known as a disrespectful child. Not because I was actually disrespectful but because I did not change myself to fit in with the other people. Being in a small town most of your teachers knew each other so they would talk and that gave me that reputation. I started to defend myself when I felt I was being mistreated or singled out. I still did not say yes ma’am, no ma’am, yes sir, or no sir. The older I got the more I realized why that was such an issue. I was raised by a northerner but I lived in the south. During slavery days if you didn’t answer your master in that way it was sought out that you were disrespectful. That certain subject has been carried on throughout the south for many years. I begin to understand that fully and I found other ways to answer and say things so no one would consider me

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