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I come from a large family. My mom is one of 13 and my dad is one of 10. My grandfather came to the United States from Austria as a young boy during the Holocaust. When they arrived in the U.S., his family decided where they would live by closing their eyes and pointing somewhere on the map. Their fingers landed on Springfield, Illinois.

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My name is Maria Guadalupe Hernandez. My family's culture is rooted in Mexico. I was named after my grandmother. We call her Welita which is a term of endearment to her.  She only speaks Spanish even after being in the states for many years. My grandmother took care of me when I came home after school when I was younger. She loved to cook and I loved to eat her authentic food. I would walk into her house after school and I could smell the homemade tortillas and salsa. Tamales are her specialty, which are still my favorite today. Life at Welita's was precious. My grandmother and my grandfather immigrated from Mexico. All of her children live within the United States now. We still have relatives that live in Sabinas, Mexico. Welita loves to visit her sister and long time friends. I am so blessed to have such a rich background and share a name with my grandmother.

En la foto aparece mi abuela, yo, mi hermano y mi padre. (Pictured is my grandma, myself, my brother, and my dad.)

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I'm African American and was born and raised in Chicago,IL. My first legal name, Michaela is of Hispanic origins as I was named after one of my mom's best friends. My last name is of Scottish origins which I do have traces of through my natural red low lights. My grandfather on my mother's side does have Cherokee in his family. While I'm not sure if that heritage has reached me, I'm always up for learning more about myself and where I come from.

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My heritage is Scottish Irish and I identify as a Caucasian woman. I was born in Springfield, Illinois and my family immigrated from Scotland and Ireland. My name has no special meaning and I'm not sure where it's from. I've asked my mom before and she said she just liked it so thats what she picked. Finally, I do have some Native American heritage in me. My grandma had a lot of Native American in her, probably 25% at least. You could definitely see it when you looked at her.

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I was born in Taylorville IL in 1995, my full name is Marguerita and it is very special to my because I was named after my Noni. I am half Italian and half German, my mom’s side is full Italian which my noni was. I feel very close to my Italian side because since I was younger I would always make traditional Itialian pastas and food.

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Sociology defines culture as language, customs, beliefs, rules, arts, knowledge, etc. developed by members of a group to make their social environment meaningful. Honestly, I didn’t have a cultural identity when I was younger. I didn’t belong anywhere, I never knew my dad, but my mom said he told her he was Native American. So I clung to that culture From the outside looking in. I wanted to belong, but did not know where to start. Finally, I took a blood test to see if I could tell what tribe I was from so I could learn the culture and meet other people. When my results came back my stomach was in knots. I was about to find my place in the world after all these years, and find a connection to my father. I opened the email and got the greatest shock- I am ZERO percent Native American. I am so white! Turns out I am from Great Britain, United Kingdom, and Scandinavia. It sounds funny to say as a person with no tribal affiliation, but I was a little shook. It really sent me thinking about my culture and heritage and things that I might pass down one day. It didn’t hit me like a ton of bricks, I didn’t have some great epiphany, but little by little, I realized I am part of a culture. We do have traditions and language and art and a belief system and we do hand our knowledge down from generation to generation. I am part of the LGBT community and I have inherited the culture of the people that came before me, the people that fought to exist, the people that love without shame or boundaries. I am so proud to be part of this community and learn our culture and make it my own and be able to pass it down to the next generation! 

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I am of Irish heritage my family came to America because of the potato famine. I was born in America. My ancestors were promised land if they came to America but they never received it.

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I am actually part Iroquois from both my grandpas on both my mom and my dad’s side. I am also part Cherokee from my grandma on my dad’s side. These family members are actually quite distant from my family, so we don’t get to see their side of the family much. It’s very sad because I do wish sometimes that I had more culture in my every day life to celebrate. The ones who do, I definitely encourage to celebrate and be proud! While I am distant from these family members, I do love them oh so dearly and one day I hope for them to tell me more stories from their ancestors.

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I am 25% Welsh. My grandfather and grandmother met in Wales while she was a nurse. They had my aunt and then they moved to Pennsylvania. I don’t know a lot about my grandfather because he passed away before I met him. The name Morgan is Welsh and means sea and great circle.

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I'm African American I identify as 100% African American to me it means a lot to have a cultural identity even if its many I was born In Springfield il  my great great grandmother is from hannibal Missouri and moved to Springfield Illinois i believe in the 60s my name is Solomon from the bible he was a king and my middle name is aki which is Muslim for wise I am not sure if I have indigenous heritage in America but I always wanted to look in to ancestral.com to see what's out there that I may not be aware of.

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My ancestors hail primarily from England and Ireland, but I was born in Litchfield, IL. My name derives from a Greek word meaning “appearance of god.”

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My heritage is African American I am not into any specific origin when it comes too food. I was raised to be open and be greatful too learn from other cultures. I do enjoy soul food and hunan restaurants.

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I was born in Springfield Illinois.

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My heritage is Italian. My grandmother is full blooded italian and came over on a boat when she was 7 from Italy. Family is key in our family. Sitting time with each other for every holiday. Cooking is a passion of mine especially italian. I learned everything I know from my grandma.

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My great great great great grandma was a full blooded Indian. I do not know the tribe, but I have indigenous heritage.

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I was born in illinois and my great great grandfather was from italy while my his wife was irish and italian. My family are full of great cooks and like me, have a great passion for it. My last name instead of being Tego should be Tega since my great great grandfather couldnt tell the difference from an o or an a.

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My heritage is part Cherokee Indian & part Irish. I was born in Jacksonville, Illinois. I do not know where my family migrated from, we’ve never really went over that. I do know some of my family has living in Kentucky, Illinois and Oregon. My last name is a Scottish patronymic surname meaning "son of Donald". It is a simpler Anglicized variant for the name MacDonald. I don’t know much about my family’s heritage but this has made me want to look into it!

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I am Caucasian I was born and raised in Decatur Illinois. My family migrated from Ireland many years ago. My name is Aaron, which came from a friend of my mother’s when her son named Aaron died at a young age. Which gives me a reason to be my best and do my best in my life. I have a name and a reason to carry on.

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I come from a large Italian family, Born and raised in Springfield,IL

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My cultural background is African American with Louisiana Creole heritage. I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’ve traced my heritage only as far as my great great great grandparents on my grandmother’s side. My grandmother’s lineage in America is rooted in several cultures including African, French Canadian, and European or “Creole” (Kree- oh-l). My favorite  Creole dishes and foods are curry rice, gumbo, jambalaya, blue soft shell crab,  and cucumber salad. I also identify with African culture. I have traveled to countries in West Africa and Central America and experienced culture of African people from those areas. My favorite African dishes and foods are Jollof rice, red lentil stew, spinach stew, pepper sauce and tropical fruits and veggies like mangos, soursop and coconuts.

I also enjoy foods from many other cultures including European, Asian, African, Native American and Latino. In Milwaukee, we celebrate cultural diversity with summer ethnic festivals. I’ve enjoyed learning about various cultures by participating in these festivals.

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My heritage is German,British, and Jewish. My Grandpa came from Germany as a child with his mother. I love my family history background. I wanted to know more about my family so I researched and did a DNA. I was born in southern Illinois. My family immigrated from Germany, that’s were my Jewish side comes from. And my family also immigrated from Great Britain. my family named changed when my Grandfather came to over to America.

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So, to describe, my cultural background, I grew up basically in the country. So venison was kind of a staple in my house. Any kind of venison is amazing.

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My family is descendants of gypsies, so a lot of my heritage comes from a lot of different places. Like my last name is French and Canadian, both my mother and father are from New Orleans. We have French, Canadian, Italian, Gypsy, Irish and Australian family. I am many things, because my family is travelers!

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I was born in Hillsboro,Illinois. I unfortunately don’t know much about my family history or where they we’re originated from.

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I am from Mexican decent. I was born here in Springfield, but my family came from Monterey. They then moved to East LA where a lot of Mexicans migrate to. As some of you may know it’s not the best area to have a family so they moved and my dad stayed there until he met my mom. I love learning more about my heritage and I love the people I come from.

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Cherokee American Indian, I was born in Hillsboro, Illinois. My name originated from my great grandmother.

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My mom was adopted and my biological father left when I was young. So I don’t have much to go on honestly. I was born and raised in Kansas. I have noticed some differences from coming from Kansas and now living in Illinois for example in Kansas it’s normal to eat cinnamon rolls with chili and in Illinois people eat peanut butter sandwiches with chili.

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My dad’s side of the family is from Ireland and my moms side is from Australia! I really hope to get to get to visit someday and learn more about my ancestors!

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My heritage is white. I was born and raised in central Illinois. My family migrated from Germany, England, and Ireland.

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My heritage is German. Both my paternal and maternal sides of the family immigrated to the US from Germany. My last name, “Rothering” supposedly is derived from the German word for redhead.

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I was born and raise in Springfield. My family history is Irish and German. My dad's side is German and my moms side is Irish.  My Irish side family was potato farmers and migrate d here during the famine in Ireland. Then some of them became popcorn farmers.

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I was born in Springfield, IL. My family immigrated from Germany in the mid to late 1800’s. I still have relatives in Germany, and all my family spoke German until my grandpa got older and stopped. My family immigrated here for a better life, which they achieved after lots of hard work. We have many things in my family that came from Germany when my great great grandpa came to the U.S. including the trunk that he came over with.

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Honestly, I’m very ashamed at how little I truly know about my own heritage. I do know I have a strong American indigenous background, but I don’t know much about it. I’d love to learn more.

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I was born in Springfield and raised in Oakford.  My maternal great grandfather came over from Germany.  My dad's side of the family is from Ireland.

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I am an African American born in the rough part of Chicago, but moved to a small town with my single mother. We don't know specifically where our ancestors originally came from, but our family history is rooted in western Illinois. There is a lot of historyand heritage that flows up and down the river. During Heritage Week, I plan to research my family history and to learn more about the history of other people. 

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I am African-American my parents were born in the Republic of Congo, and I was born here in the US. Growing up I was definitely influenced by my African culture.Even while I was young my parents would speak their native language to me. Even though I grew up here in America my parents still brought some of the I guess you could say traditions they were raised with into our household while also adapting to the American norms as well. I am so proud to be African, I’m so proud to be black there are so many things that come with being African that I still have to yet to experience, explore, etc. Just being African in general other Africans are like family to you regardless of where you came from. But then within the Congolese community there are two Congo’s  but  we consider each other as one. We’re  all like one big family even if you don’t know the person if you’re from Congo, if you’re from Africa we are related maybe not by blood but by continent.

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Hello there! I have always wanted to know about my family background and where everyone down the line came from. Obviously that's not possible when most of them are no longer with us. What I do know for sure is that on my mother's side I have family that migrated here on boats from Hungary. On my father's side I don't know too much but what I do know is that he has native american and mexican in him. While I'm not sure on the percentages of everything I am, I have always wanted to get the 23 and me dna kits to see what all makes up me.

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My heritage is actually unknown, I am adopted so the only heritage I know of is what I was born into. I was born in Lincoln, IL but cool enough my house I grew up in was actually a place where Lincoln practiced law.

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I am African American. I was born in Chicago, IL. My name means queen and it was originated from Spain.

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I am the daughter of an English Immigrant and an American farm boy. My life consists of cups of tea and herding goats. I’ve always been conflicted between my two sides, especially when my American friends make “we won!” jokes in good nature and my British family has opinions on American politics. But I wouldn’t change where my family come from for anything, because I know the value in missing people; my British family who I only see a every few years, and my Australian friends from when I lived there. To be the child of two vastly different parents (both heritage and identities) means to be more understanding that everyone has a different story and is uniquely valuable.