Jesmyn Ward Quotes

I'm very aware of my own background. I'm Irish, French, and then a little bit of everything else thrown in, ranging from German to Native American. We're talking about tiny drops of blood.

I'm actually more German than Scottish. I'm half-Japanese, 25 percent German, 12 percent Scottish, and 12 percent Irish.

I'm black and Cuban, Australian and Irish, and like most people in America, I'm someone whose roots come from somewhere else. I'm a mixed race, first-generation American.

Dad's Jewish and Irish, Mom's German and Scotch. I couldn't say I was anything. My last name isn't even Downey. My dad changed his name when he wanted to get into the Army and was underage. My real name is Robert Elias. I feel like I'm still looking for a home in some way.

For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.

I have Native American blood. I have African blood. I have European blood.

I'm three quarters Scottish, but I sound English. I don't really see British as a race.

I have two Filipino nannies who have British passport and not me. I don't need British passport. When you were running around in an animal skin, my ancestors were building the pyramids.

When I'm in England, I know I'm a visitor, but being a white man in England with ancestry that's German and Italian, I have a history with the Romans and the Saxons. I feel some connection and ancestry here, as weird as that sounds.

I've always known that my father's father and grandfather and grandmother were from Mexico. I've never denied it. I've always said it.

All of us are so mixed. My great-grandfather was white.

I discovered that there is Indian blood in my ancestry on my father's side - a fact that had not been talked about in my family. No wonder I've often been cast in exotic roles - Indian princesses, Russian revolutionaries, Algerians, Gypsies and Greeks.

America is the result of the amalgam of three people: Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans

I happen to be half West Indian, but I don't know that side of my family.

I am first-generation American, so I didn't grow up in the South or have any relatives who were slaves. My forefathers were colonized.

Kunta Kinte's strength derives from the knowledge of where he comes from, but it struck me that I don't know where I come from. I understand that my last name is Kirby, that I was born in London, third-generation Jamaican, and at some point along the line, that name was changed. I didn't know my history past my grandparents.

My mother was from upstate New York; she's of Irish and German descent. My father was from Ghana.

My roots go back to West Africa, but my last name is Kirby, which is not an African name.

Puerto Ricans are many colors - we are Spanish, we're French, we're Thai, Indian, we're almost black, some of us.

The Afrocentric exploration of the black past only scratches the surface. A full examination of the ancestry of those who are referred to in the newspapers as blacks and African Americans must include Europe and Native America.

My mother was from West Bromwich; my grandfather was Pakistani. I had an aunt who started trying to trace the family tree and stopped when she saw what turned up.

No, my family is Russian, Georgian, via Ellis Island.

Most of my background is Filipino and partly Chinese, but mostly Filipino.

I'm certainly proud to be Cuban American, and it's a fantastic opportunity for anybody - regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. It does carry a measure or pride to know where you're from and to know what your roots are.

Irish Americans are no more Irish than Black Americans are Africans.