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Jennifer Ellis

Dr. Joni Flowers

EDU 280

26 January 2019

Cultural Autobiography

My father was born to a Scottish mother and an American

father on an American Army base in England. My mother was born

to Chinese immigrant parents. Growing up people would ask me

“what are you?”, I would reply Caucasian. After I would get

confused looks, I would laugh and explain that I am half

Caucasian and half Asian; put the two together and I’m

CaucAsian. I was raised by my father and stepmother(both

Caucasian). My grandmother, being from England, would host tea

party’s for all holidays for us. We would have afternoon tea

everyday after school and learned all the words to “God Save the

Queen”. Because my birth mother was never around, I did not have

much Chinese cultural influence growing up.

I was raised in Bakersfield, California, a big city with a

small town feel. Close enough to Los Angeles to have that SoCal

vibe but in the middle of farming and oilfields to have the farm

life influence. Due to the farming, many migrant field works

reside in Bakersfield. Most of our lesson were taught dual

language. The principal explained to my parents that they felt

this would help both English language and English language

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learner students learn each other’s cultures and language. I did

great in school but honestly cannot speak any Spanish, so I am

not sure I benefited from this.

I am now a 38 year old single mother of four. I moved to

Las Vegas in 2013 after my divorce for a fresh start. My

children are also of mixed race, Caucasian/Chinese and African-

American. Just like when I was young, my children are not

influenced by their African-American cultural due to the lack of

presence of their father. I try my best to teach them what I

can.

I took my youngest son to D.C., he stood in the spot where

Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I have Dream” speech, he looked

out over the reflecting pool towards the Washington Monument and

said in a quiet whisper, “Thank you Dr. King.” He didn’t know

that I heard him, but I’m happy I did. It brought tears to my

eyes to know his appreciation and thanks. Without multicultural

education he would not have that feeling in his heart. I have

trust in multicultural education for the sake of my children,

our nation, and our world. I need help teaching my children what

I cannot and I want to teach other’s children what their parents

cannot.