Academic Autobiography

Black or Hispanic?
It seems easier to define me as your typical African American girl. I was born in Camden, New Jersey and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Although being in the “African American” group is amazing, it’s only a group I’ve been placed into. It’s obvious I’ve been placed in this group because of my appearance and where I’m from, but our cultural backgrounds are much different.   The group I was born into is the “Hispanic American” group. I am Dominican Republican and Panamanian.
Being Hispanic wasn’t something I chose, it was something I was born into. My mother is Dominican Republican (Taíno). She was actually born in the republic, but her family moved to New York for better opportunities. My father is Panamanian (Mestizo). He was born and raised in Oklahoma. Even though I wasn’t born in the Dominican Republic or in Panama, I still engage in my culture. In New York, I lived in a neighborhood of mostly Dominicanos and other Hispanics. The schools I attended were Hispanic as well. Even though some of our cultures were different, we all had similar religions, interests in sports, taste in music, foods, languages and past times.
As far as languages go I speak three: Portuguese, Spanish, and of course English. Portuguese is what my father speaks. He knows Spanish, but Portuguese is his native tongue. I never asked him until recently why he speaks Portuguese. He told me that my great great-grandmother was Cape Verdean, and she spoke Portuguese. I found that to be interesting. My mother speaks Spanish and Haitian Creole. My parents wanted my brother and me to learn both languages. It was really complicating so they divided it up. We would speak Portuguese to my father and his family, and speak Spanish to my mother and her family. All of us, including my parents, would speak English in public places. It was really confusing when I was younger to learn the two because of the similarities in words, but I eventually got the hang of it. Living in New York I...