Auntie Cheryl

My Beautiful Auntie Cheryl

Originally, Auntie Cheryl was going to be my starting point for this project, but I decided I rather challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone.  At the end of my journey, I thought it would be interesting to get my Aunt Cheryl's opinion about her ethnic identity and role in the African American community.  Auntie Cheryl was born in Oklahoma where she grew up in a segregated community.  She moves to San Francisco at age three with her mother and siblings. Her grandmother was similar to the women in "The Help", she was a housekeeper for other people's children.  She did not want this for her own , so she strongly pushed education, which was also pushed upon my aunt. My Auntie Cheryl's mother always told her that what other people say does not matter and that she has to work towards what she wants in order to be successful.


Auntie Cheryl said that discrimination was always present in her life, but she tried hard to ignore it.  She said dating people of the opposite color was always a huge issue and it was an even bigger deal when she married my Chinese uncle.  But, she remembered what her mother told her and did not let outside people's judgments bring her down.  She has even been followed in stores, because people assume she is black, therefore she steals.  She said she ignored the racism even though it was a slap in the face growing up because she knew the color of her skin wasn't everything.  Auntie Cheryl's mother pushed the importance of Civil Rights leaders and and told her children there is no excuse for them not to become successful. One thing that my aunt told me she used to do was play the game of code switching in school.  Not only would she get grief for being black, but she would also get comments for being "too white".  So, my aunt would try to talk more black and switch up her vocabulary.  This got old for her real fast and she realized she is not going to pretend to be someone she is not, instead she is going to be herself.  


My aunt's mother became the first African American Deputy Sheriff in San Francisco.  She was always a role model for her children, and allowed them to believe they were more than just their skin color.  My aunt said, part of growing up is accepting who you are and realizing that your skin color does not define you.  She also said that you need to have a strong sense of self to make it in typical American society and not to make excuses for yourself.  This is something that I saw throughout my journey in Milan, Mr. Henry Gages Sr., Ms. Inez Jackson, Mary McLeod Bethune, the other characters in the play, and in my Auntie Cheryl.  My Aunt listened to her mother, learned from past Civil Rights Leaders and became a successful African American woman.  She started out as a teacher and then became a principal.  Eventually, she became Assistant Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District until she retired a couple of years ago.  She spends her free Sunday's singing in different Gospel Choirs all over San Francisco.