Personal Narrative: The American Identity

Samuel, I really enjoyed your post as I like hearing about other people’s family history since mine is so diverse. With your skin tone, eyes, and hair I can see why someone may say you look Hispanic. At least you take it in stride. Today, too many people get offended when someone calls them the wrong race or ethnic origin. It is really good that you continue your family’s tradition of cooking Greek and Italian dishes and I hope your children continue that. My family has been in this country so long and has so many nationalities in the mix that we have Southern traditions instead of a specific country. I do enjoy researching my family’s history. I do not have anyone famous in my family so far, but my great-great grandfather, Private John Henry Gwathney, did manage to survive the Civil War while serving under General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
I am a prime example of that. I have several different nationalities I my background and I identify myself as American, not Irish-American, German-American, or anything else. As Lind (1995, Abstract) says, “The United States is not and has never been a multinational democracy or a non-national democracy. It has been and should continue to be a liberal and democratic nation-state.” Our country was founded on multiculturalism. The American Identity is there and is constantly changing over