Thesis: Understanding
one’s family history is very important in helping to shape one’s character and
personal growth and development.
In this blog, I will
discuss my family history. My family
history is very important to me because it helped me to understand who I am and
to embrace my strengths and weaknesses.
Understanding one’s family history is very important in helping to shape
one’s character and personal growth and development . When I was growing up, my grandmother told me
that our family were descendants of a great Jamaican leader. The leader was a
woman called Nanny of the Maroons. Nanny
was the first woman in History to cause the British to sign a peace treaty with
slaves in Jamaica. Nanny was one of the leaders of the Maroons who were runaway
slaves. Nanny was also from the Ashanti warrior tribe of Ghana. Today in
Jamaica, Nanny is recognized as a
National Hero of Jamaica and her portrait
has been used on Jamaican currency.
The maroons were a group
of rebel slaves. They ran away from the plantations and formed their own
government in the hills of Jamaica. The territory they occupied was dangerous. The
area is known today as the cockpit country. This land is made up of sharp limestone rocks. They
understood the hills and were able to successfully evade the British. They
understood how to survive on the land , to find food and water, something that
was mind boggling to the British at that time. Many british soldiers who tried
to capture the maroons died while doing so because they did not understand the
terrain of the land and some starved because they were unable to find food and
water. After starving and having a hard
time to survive, they were forced to sign a peace treaty with the Maroons .
This was a result of Nanny’s leadership. This Treaty was signed in the
year .
The treaty would allow the Maroons
to live in peace and keep their own government and in return, the Maroons would
teach the British how to survive in this
land and how to find food and water.
At the time when my Grandmother
told me this important part of my history, that I was a descendant of Nanny, I
did not understand the importance. Now that she has passed away, I wish I had
gotten the chance to be around her more, to learn more of my family history. In
the community known as Maroon Town, St James,
my Grandmother was very well known. She moved from her community in
Portland, to Maroon Town St. James when she was young. She was six (6) feet
tall and was a very beautiful and
confident woman. She was very strong physically. She was also known to fight
any man that tried to challenge her. She was however well liked by her community and a very
generous person. She had six (6) children, of which my father was the last, and
she also took care of many other children who did not belong to her. She lived
to be one hundred (100) years old. Up until about age 92, she was still very
active, she would walk down to the town center, she still had some of her own
teeth, her skin was very nice, she had a sharp memory, she loved to talk. She
looked thirty years younger than her real age. After age ninety two (92) however,
her brain started to degenerate and she eventually succumbed to alzheimer’s
disease.
I feel very proud whenever I think of my
Grandmother and also my Ancestor, nanny of the Maroons. I have learnt to understand more about
myself, my behavior and my life goals. I am very community centered. I take
great pride in being involved in community activities, volunteering and giving
back to the community. My ambition is to use my abilities and skills to become
a community activist and philanthropist like Oprah Winfrey whose life and work
is a great inspiration to me. Understanding my family history has also
helped me to understand my personal traits, for example, I am very competitive,
I always take on leadership roles in various clubs and organizations, I am very
ambitious and sometimes have huge surges of confidence to do things that most
people would shy away from. Sometimes I look back at my achievements and wonder
where the confidence comes from.
In conclusion,
understanding my family history has been
very important for me. It has helped me to recognize my strengths and
weaknesses, it has helped me to appreciate my family heritage more and
understand their behavior, it has given me pride and confidence that has helped
me to cope in times when I feel low. I am proud of the history of the Maroons,
my ancestor known as Nanny and all that she did to help to fight for the
freedom of slaves. It has given me hope
for the future, to one day use my abilities to make a lasting positive impact
on my community. I have been able to research more about the Jamaican maroon
tribe and their contribution to the Jamaican society, appreciate my
grandmother’s role in her community.
Understanding one’s family history is very important in helping to shape one’s
character and personal growth and development.
