During his interview, Alexander discusses his many identities: as a mixed-heritage person, a student, and an athlete. He describes his transition from Middle School to High School and the social and academic adjustments that they demanded of him. Alexander's mixed-heritage identity has impacted him throughout his upbringing in Park Slope, Brooklyn and his life as a student.
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Personal stories of life, love, family, work, faith, and community — these stories are a valuable way to understand the complexities of culture and identity over time, including how laws and social mores effect our private lives.
"I dated a white guy and I felt very not-white. And I dated an Indian guy. I felt very not-Indian. So I’m kind of like, eh, it’s in between. Everything is just in between."
In this interview, Bette talks about moving to New Hampshire from Boston and living with her uncle who was married to a French Canadian woman. She discusses what it was like to grow up between two worlds – between her Chinese family and American society.
Celia Vicé talks about her involvement with the social and political growth of the Puerto Rican community of Brooklyn. She describes Brooklyn in the 1920s and 1930s, particulary in the area of Borough Hall, which was the initial area of settlement for people migrating from Puerto Rico.
During this interview, which was conducted in Liz's art studio, Liz discusses her ongoing quest for knowledge, what she refers to as a lost history, in order to feel a greater connection to the past. She discusses feeling lost and never fitting in, whether in the US, in Puerto Rico, or in Peru, while feeling connected to her students in Brooklyn, who come from similar backgrounds.
"I grew up speaking Yiddish and Japanese, and a lot of people find that exotic and different, and I guess as exotic and different as growing up in New York. To me, it’s normal."
Itamar talks about living with “roots across the ocean,” roots both in Israel and in New York City. He talks about growing up in a mixed community, where everyone was a mix — for example, part Moroccan and part American. He talks about his first experiences in the U.S. at age 10, after his parents divorced.
In this interview, Jonathan describes what it was like to grow up Hapa in New Hampshire. He talks about being bullied and never being seen as Chinese despite identifying more with his Chinese heritage than his French Canadian background. Jonathan discusses life in his family’s restaurant in New Hampshire.
In this interview, Katherine discusses the way her racial identity has changed over time, from growing up in the culturally and economically mixed neighborhood of Sunset Park and attending a Quaker elementary school in Brooklyn Heights, to studying critical race theory formally as a young adult at Wesleyan University. Katherine elaborates on the cultural and economic backgrounds of her parents,
In Katherine’s second interview, she goes into more into detail about her childhood experiences. She talks about feeling isolated or bullied at times during her childhood, while also feeling a close connection to her friends on her block and at her Quaker school. She describes her experience of female friendship as a kid; including where and when race came into that dynamic.
"When I would say Eurasian, nobody would know what I was talking about. So I would go I’m half Chinese, and half Scottish - which I actually still do. I went through stages in my life of different emotional reactions to that question: What are you?"
In her interview, Kanai explores her Japanese heritage. She speaks Japanese as her first language but remembers being treated poorly when she lived in Japan. In one instance, she visited Hiroshima with her mother and overheard people talking about them in Japanese. She moved to Lexington, Kentucky when she was eight years old.
Robert S. Hammond talks about growing up in Philadelphia and his shock and anger at experiences in the Jim Crow South. He talk about segregation in the Navy during WWII and disparities and discrimination in healthcare services for black Marines - including at the New York Naval Hospital in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
In her interview, Sonnet describes the Japanese family traditions of her father and the family traditions of her Jewish mother. She spends time reflecting on the experiences of different generations of her family with respect to ethnicity and identity perception.
"Most people would not even guess that I was half Chinese. It’s really nice for traveling. If I keep my mouth shut, I can kind of fake it almost anywhere. But, you know, obviously once I speak everyone knows I’m American."
