Before I Was Born Research Paper

In December of 2005, my family and I came to the United States from the Dominican Republic. I came to the United States because my parents wanted to provide my siblings and I a better future. In my hometown, The U.S is considered the country of opportunities. At that time, I was oblivious and unaware of what was going on. I did not understand why I had to move across the world. When we came to United States, my family and I had to live with my grandfather. He shared his home and provided us with anything we needed. It was difficult adjusting to a new culture and environment.

2. Did anyone of your family members already stay in America before you moved here?

In “The Years of My Birth” by Louise Erdrich it is critical to understand the symbolic meaning of the presence connected to white room and the main character Linda, who is also known as Tuffy. Being that Linda is the main character and the narrator in the story we learn that she retells the story fifty years later. Erdrich invest much effort in explaining the earlier years that links an indescribable phantom presence, which comes to Linda at other moments in her life. “ That presence would come to me again other moments in my life. Its return is partly what this story is

As I embarked on this assignment I was unsure how to begin and what stories to tell. I did not know if I should commence with how my family came to America, my family tree, or a fascinating story about how my grandparents met. In order to complete this assignment I convened with my grandfather, Earl W. Stafford Sr., who knows a lot about our family history, to learn as much as I could.

My parents were born in Sicily; my great grandparents came to the United States in the early 1900’s. My grandmother was born in the United States 1904, although she was born in America her parents did not choose to remain in the United States. Longing for their home land my great grandparents moved the family back to Sicily when my grandmother was only several months old. In the early 1950’s my grandmother who was born in the United States left Sicily with her husband and three grown children.

My family of Burrows, Bennet (father) Goodbeer, Littlejohn, (mother) is the mixture of what America is French, German, Irish, Native American, and Black. Origins come from the Atlantic slave trade where most of my family was relocated to Arkansas. Where their condition of slavery with all of the horrors of it like the breeding, whippings, lynching, slave codes. The lack of education and the chance to prosper without being a handicap of being a subordinate which in 2016 is still every true to till this day. As for the Native American and the Irish side of the family, I don’t know much than seeing some pictures and Serval stories that I can’t recall from my childhood.

Why did you come to America? I followed your father and one of my sisters lived up here, it is where we first stayed and eventually got up on our feet and got an apartment.

The essay “What's in a Name?” written by Lini Kadaba was published on December 7th, 1997 in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Kadaba's essay is rooted in exemplification. She utilizes the framework of names, specifically surnames that were changed during the immigration process, to showcase examples of Americans that had previously immigrated to the United States and successfully assimilated. Kadaba then chronicles those Americas quest over time to regain and reconnect with some of their own culture and learn more about their ethnic roots. In many cases Lini Kadaba found that those Americans were changing their surnames back to versions more closely resembling their heritage. She asserts that pressures to assimilate have lessened over time and that

I always kept in my mind how my father worked day and night for little pay to provide for my family. Seeing both of my parents struggling as two young immigrants trying to provide a home for two kids was the fuel that kept me pushing forward. I am the oldest, so naturally responsibility was placed on my shoulders. I had to take care of my younger brother, while my parents worked. I also served as a translator for my mother who spoke very little English. My parents barely received education in high school, so I helped my mom and dad with most of the paperwork. I remember writing letters for immigration, employers, lawyers, and to the court for several family members.

I never truly thought about how my family had come to the United States. I assumed someone in my family, long ago, had decided that they wanted better for themselves and their family and had decided to come to the United States. It did not become a big deal for me until I found out that those people, who wanted better for themselves and their family, were my grandmother and grandfather. Up until then, I always took my citizenship for granted. I believed that being born in America was one of my natural rights that no one could take away when in reality it was a blessing and a privilege given to me by my grandmother and grandfather. I was born into a peaceful community, full of love and passion. Whereas my grandparents were born in a town

A long time ago, in a land far, far away...there were a group of European immigrants looking for a better life. It was between the late 1700’s and early 1800’s when they first heard about a place called America, a land like no other. So, these immigrants decided to embark on a journey to this new land, because of their desire for freedom and happiness. They were chasing what we now call the American Dream. And guess what? These immigrants so happen to be related to me.

Everyone has a family history and I want to explain mine, my family is comprised of immigrants since my great grandparents emigrated from Spain to Cuba and from Cuba to the U.S. These immigrations have taught me lessons such as perseverance, self-reliance, and education. They emigrated in search of a better life for themselves and their future children. My family stayed and did well for themselves; until, the Cuban Revolution. My family didn’t agree with the communist ideals and were politically persecuted for speaking out against the new government in power. Then later my grandparents and my parents moved from Cuba to the U.S. to follow the sixth goal of the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution: "Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves, and our Posterity" (United States Constitution). My family has been one to seek improvement for ourselves regardless of the lengths that we must go to achieve it. We’re a tight knit family because of this mutual necessity to constantly advance ourselves.

My family originated from Zapotlanejo,Jalisco,Mexico. Both my grandma and grandpa from my father 's side grew up there. They had very little education but grew up being hard workers. When my grandparents got married they had four children in Mexico. It became hard for my grandparents to maintain all children when jobs were hard to find and payed very little. In 1962 my grandpa came to the united states looking for a job. He came to Southern California because he had family in the area. My grandpa found a job in Los Alamitos at a restaurant called Marie Callender 's as a cook and went back for his family. In 1963, my grandparents and their four children came to the United States. My dad was the youngest of them all he was barely a year. When they came here to California the immigration was not a huge problem so they were able to cross with no problems. When they came here my grandma was pregnant with one of my aunts,so when she was born they fixed papers for the whole family with her.

I was born in Lercara Friddi, Sicily to my parents Antonio and Rosalia Lucania. In Sicily, my father worked a job in the sulfur mines. However, a promise of a better life in America led my family to immigrate to the United States in 1907, when I was only ten years old. The trip was not that long, taking only 17 days, but it gave me a chance to dwell on what to expect from this move. After arriving at Ellis Island, my parents chose to settle in New York City at the Lower East Side

I am second-generation American on my maternal side but my father’s side can be traced back to Colonial America, specifically Colonial Virginia. My family stayed largely within the same 50-mile geographical area in Western Virginia through Virginia’s statehood and the subsequent formation of West Virginia during the Civil War.