Personal Statement Unlike many other kids at the age of seven I had already begun to face the subject of diversity. I learned at a young age that kids can be cruel. It is hard to recall exactly how many nights I prayed that I would wake up with golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes. I was too young to understand my deep-rooted family history, and why I looked different from many of the other kids at my elementary school. Several years later as a seventh grader, I was still struggling with my appearance.
I can vividly remember walking into my mother’s kindergarten class one day when I was job shadowing with her and having her introduce me to her class. Naturally, she explained how I was her daughter and that I was going to be spending the day with them. It was then that one little boy raised his hand and asked how I could be her daughter when I was Mexican and she was not. My mother responded to the boy’s question by explaining how I was not Mexican but rather Italian. As I stood there mortified and in tears she went into further detail clarifying how I looked unlike her because I was almost all Italian allowing me to have stronger Italian features while she was just a fraction Italian. It was that afternoon hours after my demeaning experience, that I became fascinated with finding out more about my Italian heritage.
I began by searching for the answers to the questions that many other people posed upon first meeting me such as, “what are you?”why do you look that way?”were your ancestors from Italy?”does your family still live there?” I already had the knowledge that I was Italian and that I possessed many distinguishing features such as my dark hair and eyes and olive skin, but I wanted to know more than the obvious. I began asking questions from both my father and grandfather, and I found the information I learned to be both intriguing and inspiring. My grandfather on my father’s side was the first one in his family to be born in America. While living in the city of Palomino in Italy in the 1920’s, my great-grandfather Costanza decided that he wanted a better life for his wife and two young girls. As a man of great ambition, he did what he felt was right for his family an without and ounce of reservation he set out for American in search of work. He arrived in America and managed to make enough money to extend the chance of the American dream to his wife and two kids.
The Term Paper on Italian Immigration Italians America Family
After experiencing hardships like poverty, a series of natural disasters, civil war and oppression from Northern Italy the Southern Italians started coming to America in flocks between 1876 and 1976. The most concentrated migrations of Italians happened between 1880 and 1920. Italians came to America not to escape these hardships, but to work and send money home to Italy in order to get their ...
It was then after my great grandfather returned home, when my great-grandmother became pregnant with my grandfather. Wanting his son to born in the “land of opportunities”, my grandfather returned to America along with his family where his son was born and his family began a prosperous life. I am certain that the journey my great grandparents entailed was not nearly as simple as I am portraying it, however, the courage of my great grandparents is something I respect and admire. Learning about my heritage has aided me in becoming a more well-rounded and accepting person.
After hearing the story of my great grandparents, I was and am still honored to be Italian. To this day I am prepared to rise without hesitation to claim my ethnicity with pride.
