As black people we have a rich inheritance; it was in South East Asia where I was living in 1995, where I was brought face to face with this fact. I was a black woman working in another culture and learning about that culture. I began to realise that I knew more about that culture than I knew my own. Someone confirmed this fact to me at that time. I needed to know and understand my own cultural identity, and heritage. I needed to be proud of where I came from and what this all meant.
‘Who Do You Think You Are’, a fascinating T.V programme which traces the ancestry of well-known celebrities?
- Who was this person in my family?
- What did he or she do?
- What is the family secret?
- What difference does it make in my life?
Photo courtesy blog.eogn.com
There are often surprises, tears, joy, anger as they discovered the positives and negatives of what happened to their ancestors in the era in which they lived. As I have watched the various celebrities go through their voyage of discovery I realise overall the sense of pride that they had in their ancestors’ achievement, how they won under some very difficult circumstances and how some of these experiences have permeated down the years to shape their own lives. When I did a similar exercise in creating my own genogram it revealed the losses we had endured as a family and how this had impacted us. My colleague on the other hand who was also doing the same exercise showed, how her family had achieved in the academic sphere over the years and which had also shaped her career path.
So I realise that knowing our past helps us to change our future, most importantly we need to be proud of our heritage and to teach our children about their rich heritage and its significance. And if there has been a negative impact in our family history we don’t have to accept what our forebears did or repeat patterns of behaviour. It is in our power to change it and make a difference.
I look forward to your comments what have you discovered about your heritage.
