Comments on: Blog Contest: How Does Knowing Your Roots Shape Your Identity? (Week 1)

By: Jo Robinson

Jo Robinson — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:49:49 +0000

My soul, my spirit, my heart will be one, and i will know peace.

By: Mariama A Moore

Mariama A Moore — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:30:16 +0000

Well, I know that if I ever had a chance to find out my life line- my roots , I would finally be complete and restored in every since of the word and so will my whole family. I always say(same words of the late Malcom X) that” a tree cant live without its roots”- so my family and I have just been surviving on the parts of our history that we do have knowledge of, but to actually KNOW the people we come from and the way we lived would bring us LIFE and FREEDOM!! That I will pass on. No More Slave Mind. Peace & Love

By: chevala oliver-berry

chevala oliver-berry — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:23:17 +0000

I always self taught Black History. The schools didn’t feel it was important enough. It was important to every pore in my body to know my beginnings. I was fortunate to know my maternal and paternal grandparents well into my adulthood. My last grandmother crossed over in 2009 at the age of 95 years, I They were independent, God-fearing, family oriented, hard working people. I loved my mother with all my heart. Knowing my roots, I feel complete and comfortable in my dark skin and big behind. Knowing my African history, I feel a sense of duty and responsibility to carry the torch. I always hear my ancestor voices in the wind. I am what they were never were allowed to be. I hold my head high, and carry myself as a lady, and a role model because I must continue to make them proud of me. I feel their presence everyday, and I share with my grandson to be proud of who he is. At 7 yrs I tell him our ancestors took the pain so we could receive the gain. I stand proud and tall as an African Oak tree, because of seeds I came from. I am an African American women.

By: Vicki L. Turner

Vicki L. Turner — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:54:51 +0000

I believe it is important for all people to know their roots because it gives a sense of groundedness, connectedness, and of belonging. As an African American, a strong sense of ethnic identity, in turn, has a positive influence on my personal identity, family, success, community building, work satisfaction, and social involvement.

By: Ren

Ren — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:14:36 +0000

Growing up mostly with only my brown parent (not black), I was never really able to embrace my black side. I never really knew my black side of the family and even though I considered myself black, I’ve never really gotten a chance to explore my heritage. My mom always encouraged me to tell people that I was half Indian as she thought that not telling people was to deny her. knowing my roots would really go a long way in helping me to embrace my whole and not just my two halves.

By: Tracy Ndoye

Tracy Ndoye — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:42:57 +0000

How does knowing your roots shape your identity? Its important for me to known my past so , I can mold my future.Knowing my roots will help me to understand myself better.It will help me to educated my daughter and grandchild about their ancesters culture,religion,lanuage and history.This knowledge would encourage them to be the best they can be.It would give us a sense of pride and dignity. If I knew my roots my family and I would travel to the country were me orginally came from and I, would adventually build a family home there.Thank you, africancestry for giving me a chance to know my past.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:36:38 +0000

“How simple a thing it seems to me that to know ourselves as we are, we must know our mothers’ names.” -Alice Walker

Recently, a neighboring passer-by stopped right in her tracks to marvel at my lively, oversized ponytail palm: “You rarely see ‘em get that big. I’ve had one for years, and it’s not half that size!” Eyeing the familiar, I caught Ponytail Palm anew. Full. Unruly and let loose–yes, an unbought-and-unbossed willfulness about her, serious. It seemed to me that that tree stood a little bolder than I’d remembered, flowed a little freer, swayed even. Made me wonder about that Ponytail Palm. Surely, she too could’ve (should’ve?) been half her size. After all, and with great indifference, I’d placed her in a corner (with much natural light, I’ll admit—appeasement for the lack of a room of her own) to see if she could just, well, make something of herself. Looks like she had.

While picking up the dead leaves of neighboring plants, I wondered how Ponytail Palm had managed to survive. And I imagined she would say to me, “Girl, you got to know your roots. I would’ve been done bowed down had I not remembered what I already knew. Even you left me out here to ‘make a kind of life,’ and I had to reach way back to remember how to live. Let me tell you about ponytail palms and support roots, climbing roots, strangling roots…” “Strangling roots?” I’d ask. “Honey, yes. Strangling roots. Now write this here down, and give it to that neighbor of yours.”

Lela Belle, Thelma, Anna Belle, Lula, Harriett…from my mother’s mother to the severely bent, (but not broken) nameless others…there in the muddy Carolina rice fields walking…talking indigo/skins of northern Nigeria. A gap in Black Herstory bridged only by rootwork [genealogy]. There is a conjuring.

“Because we are free women…born of wise women…who are born of strong women…we speak your names.” –Pearl Cleage

By: Cedrick White

Cedrick White — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:20:49 +0000

When a persons knows a great deal about their roots, their identity will be shaped psychologically, with confidence of their role in the universe. The past, present, and future are undoubtably interconnected, being creations of each other. Since we all have a past, we can be somewhat compared to used products. We are used in the sense that, we are mere compositions of past people. Used products can have many parts and functions, whether we are aware of them or not. Often times when we want to get the best out of used products. It is necessary to know the past story associated with them. In reviewing the product’s past, we can gain insight on the product’s weaknesses, essence, and potential. As a result we become more confident in our usage and even mastery of it. So therefore people, who understand a great deal about their roots are confident about what they endow, being used products. As a result, their identity is shaped pyschologically, with more confident about their role in the universe.

By: Dephie

Dephie — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:32:00 +0000

How does knowing my roots shape my identity?
I just wished that this technology was around 50-60 years ago. Finally knowing about my roots have made me proud. I now know the names of my ancestors, something that my parents never knew. In the early genearation they were ashamed to know that they came from African roots and it was not spoken of. Slavery made them ashamed, but now, there is pride. I carry that pride for them.
Knowing my roots,I found out about my people, how they lived, what they ate, their language, customs. I have traced on my father’s side his grandmother’s mother to the mid 1700’s.
My identity is now shaped by knowing my roots, the land of my father’s father, my mother’s mother.
I now, know me.

By: REGGIE MORRISON

REGGIE MORRISON — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:09:54 +0000

Knowing my place of origin besides the U.S., means everything to me. It would some what complete the puzzle of our people no matter where our ancestors where taken their roots began in Africa. The very name has fascinated me for years, and connecting to Africa should be a high priority with all descendants of the darkest period in our history, to know my real surname would be the greatest achievement of my life, instead of the name of a slave owner.
Personally I have tried to trace my family heritage but I can only go as far as my grandparents, so this shows how devastating the slave trade was and has been to our people, not knowing your roots is not something no other group of people have had to experience. So knowing my roots is essential to me.
Thank you