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My maternal family

Debra Lynn Owens

Place: Troy, AL

Year: September 26, 1963

Education: Undergraduate at UGA in Special Education and Graduate at CSU learning disabilities.

Occupation: Special Education teacher

Debra’s maternal family

Joyce Faye Robinson

Place: Escambia County, AL

Year: October 17, 1942

Education: high school graduate and some college (had full ride scholarship to The University of Alabama, but her father wouldn’t let her go because “nice girls” didn’t go to college.)

Occupation: Accountant

Edna Viola Kirkland (Faye’s mother)

Place: Conecuh County, AL

Year: December 26, 1920 –Still living!

Education: high school

Occupation: homemaker

Thomas Marshall Robinson (Faye’s father)

Place: Escambia County, Alabama

Year: December 29, 1915- November 16, 1985

Education: high school

Occupation: USAF WWII and merchant

Bruner McDonald Kirkland (Faye’s grandfather—mother’s side)

Place: Conecuh County, AL

Year: October 10, 1893- April 17, 1976

Education: ?

Ocucpation: farmer

Jessie Viola Kirkland (Faye’s grandmother—mother’s side)

Place: Conecuh County, AL

Year: September 19, 1898- March 29, 1973

Education: ?

Occupation: homemaker

Zollie Coffer Robinson (Faye’s grandfather—father’s side)

Place: Monroe County, AL

Year: June 7, 1997- February 14, 1959

Education: ?

Occupation: merchant

Anna Pate Robinson (Faye’s grandmother—father’s side)

Place: Escambia County, AL

Year: November 21, 1888- March 18, 1983

Education: high school

Occupation: homemaker

Debra’s paternal family

Douglas Theodore Owens

Place: Escambia County, AL

Year: November 2, 1942

Education: Doctorate in Education and Undergraduate at Troy, Masters at Auburn, and Doctorate at UGA.

Math Education.

He came back and taught at UGA in 1980 and 1987.

Occupation: Professor of Mathematics Education at OSU

Verta Hugh Timothy (Doug’s mother)

Place:Monroe County, AL

Year: April 24, 1919- April 21, 2003

Education: high school

Ocucpation: homemaker and textile worker

Theodore Silvester Owens (father)

Place: Crenshaw County, AL

Year: March 9, 1918- June 5, 1999

Education: 7th grade

Occupation: farmer

Minnie Grimes (Doug’s grandmother—mother’s side)

Place: Monroe County, AL

Year:July 19, 1894 –June 21, 1930

Education: high school

Occupation: school teacher [until married]

James Alexander Timothy (Doug’s grandfather—mother’s side)

Place: Monroe County, AL

Year: March 2, 1883- August 14, 1960

Education: ?

Occupation: farmer/blacksmith/merchant

Agnes Irene Rogers (Doug’s grandmother—father’s side)

Place:Crenshaw County, AL

Year: January 1897- February 8, 1994

Education: ?

Occupation: homemaker

John Sherman Owens (Doug’s grandfather—father’s side)

Place: Crenshaw County, AL

Year: November 1895- April 1982

Education: ?

Occupation: farmer and carpenter [Shipbuilding in WW II]

Other interesting Information

Kirklands on my mother’s maternal side were 1st cousins and married.

Mom’s side emigrated here from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Mom’s side was sustainable before it became a fad. She was raised that way. They worked with the little they had and created things out of what they had. We were also raised this way.

James Alexander Timothy’s father, Thomas Timothy, was full blood creek Indian. This makes me 1/32 creek Indian.

Owens (mother’s maiden name) is Welsh and it’s original form is Owenin, meaning Son of Owen, the well-born one.

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Racial Heritage: White on both sides as far back as there is knowledge of.

My paternal family

Thomas Gregory Bennett (my father)

Place: Nashville, TN

Year: November, 18 1959

Education: Undergrad at UGA in Spanish language and linguistics

Occupation: Translator/ Lexicographer

Greg’s maternal family:

Nancy Elizabeth Griffin Bennett (his mother)

Place: Nashville, TN

Year: November 4, 1937- still living

Education: Carson Newman- Jefferson City, TN and Howard Payne University- Brownwood, TX

Music Major

Occupation: Secretary, Homemaker

Charles Griffin (Nancy’s father)

Place: Nashville, TN

Year: September 27, 1911

Education: ?

Occupation: Taught industrial arts and math at East Nashville Junior high school and was a Post office clerk

Laura Frances Griffin (Nancy’s mother)

Place: Columbus, MS

Year: 1916

Education: ?

Occupation: Homemaker

Audie Thomas Howard (Nancy’s grandfather-- mom’s side)

Place: ?

Year: ?

Education: ?

Occupation: Owned a real estate company and owned the Dr. Pepper bottling company in Columbus, Mississippi

Henrietta Braswell (Nancy’s grandmother—mom’s side)

Place: ?

Year: ?

Education: ?

Occupation: Homemaker

Elbert Vivian Griffin (Nancy’s grandfather—father’s side)

Place: Nashville, TN

Year: March 25, 1877- January 17, 1942

Education: ?

Occupation: Fire department Captain in Nashville, TN and in the 1900’s he rode in a horse drawn fire truck.

Elizabeth Glenn (Nancy’s grandmother--father’s side)

Place: Nashville, TN

Year: July 4, 1877-April 4, 1971

Education: ?

Occupation: Homemaker

Greg’s paternal family

Tomas Bert Bennett Jr. (father)

Place: Nashville, TN

Year: November 28, 1935- September 12, 2009

Education: Undergrad at Vanderbilt and Graduate at The University of Tennessee

Occupation: in high school he was a city salesmen for Worthan Bag Company (from company in the movie Driving Mrs. Daisy.) then was a Chemist

Laura Frances Wommack Bennett (Thomas’ mother)

Place: Alexandria, TN

Year: October 8, 1904- February 18, 1999

Education: ?

Occupation: Secretary in the UT extension school of social work in Nashville, TN

Tom Bert Bennett Sr. (Thomas’ father)

Place: Farmington, Marshall County, TN

Year: October 7, 1895 - May 3, 1962

Education:

Occupation:

James Power Wommack (Thomas’ grandfather- mother’s side)

Place: ?

Year: 1860-1940

Education: ?

Occupation: docttor

Caroline White Wommack (Thomas’ grandmother—mother’s side)

Place: ?

Year: 1871-1941

Education: ?

Occupation: ?

Celia Thomas Bennett (Thomas’ grandmother—father’s side)

Place:

Year: May 10, 1865-March 12, 1952

Education: ?

Occupation: ?

Benjamin Thomas Bennett (Thomas’ grandfather—father’s side)

Place:

Year: May 1, 1859- July 1, 1917

Education: ?

Occupation: ?

Other interesting information:

Much of my dad’s side of the family lived and settled in Tennessee.

Nancy’s Great grandparents on dad’s side: Alpheus Marston Griffin and his wife, Roberta Alice Pettypool.

The Pettypools emigrated to America from England, Scotland, and Wales in about 1700 and settled in Mecklenburg County, VA

The name Bennett is English, from England and came from the Latin word Benedictus meaning blessing.

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This world is full of diverse cultures and ways of life. I have personally experienced only a handful and because of my personal relationships that I created with people from these cultures, I am a different person today. These people helped to form me into a more compassionate and caring human being. In addition to these cultures shaping me into who I am, my parents’ have played a major role in shaping the way I am. I now have a drive to learn about various racial and ethnic backgrounds. I will not only try to learn about these cultures in class, but I also want to make friends with those of other cultures as well as visit many other countries to see other ways of life. My diverse cultural experiences, my upbringing, and my beliefs will together play a major role in shaping me as a teacher--I will be more accepting and understanding of others who are different from me instead of casting judgment on them, and will be able to create different accommodations for those of other cultures and family backgrounds.

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I also had experience with diverse races and cultures. I attended public schools and had many friends of different races and cultural backgrounds. For example, my mother reminded me that when I was four I had one friend in particular who was African American, and when I would talk about her I would say “my friend with the brown arms and brown legs.” I realize now that I believe that I knew that she was different from me, but I did not think anything of it. I viewed her, as a whole, as my best friend and did not notice that she was different in any way except for her arms and legs. From a very early age, my friend showed me that there are many cultures in the world and that they are all valuable.

Presently, I have branched out of my culture and my comfort zone by taking part in several trips outside of the country. My first trip abroad was to Mexico with my family. We had a tradition that we would travel there every other summer. My father is fluent in Spanish and listening to him communicate with the Mexican people was different than anything I had ever experienced. I also had a personal experience with bartering in Mexico. This practice is a major part of their culture, and I enjoyed trying to come up with a bargain price for a stuffed animal I wanted to purchase. I also really enjoyed the food. The hotel where we stayed served rice, beans, pancakes, and eggs for breakfast. I looked forward to this trip every two years until it became very dangerous for Americans to travel to Mexican border towns.

My second experience with an outside culture was in 8th grade; I took part in a mission trip to Costa Rica. This was also my first time to ever travel by airplane, so I was already out of my comfort zone before even setting foot in a foreign country. This trip changed my outlook on what I had imagined poverty to be. I had never seen anyone as skinny and hungry as some of the Costa Rican people. We were building a parking lot for a church in San Jose, Costa Rica in the most poverty-stricken part of the area. Communication was the main barrier in relating to their culture because they spoke Spanish. I had to use the little Spanish I gathered from school and my father in order to attempt to communicate. This was very difficult because I yearned to learn so much more about them individually than I was able to.

In 2007 my family traveled to my mother’s hometown, Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada for an anniversary celebration at my mother’s church there. Compared to my other cultural experiences, Vancouver is not as different as I was expecting. I did notice, however, that there were many Asian and Indian people residing there. In Vancouver, there is a place called China Town that mimics China, and many foreign foods and goods are sold there. Personally, this was the biggest culture shock. We ate lunch at one of the Chinese restaurants in China Town, and I ordered a dish called chicken and noodles because it was the most “normal” looking dish on the menu. Once I received my food, it was not a “normal” dish at all. The broth smelled and tasted like fish and the chicken had bones left in it. I did not enjoy this dish at all, but it was definitely a cultural learning experience for me.

My most recent adventure outside of the country was five summers ago when I went on a mission trip to Belize in Central America. Language was not as much of a barrier because the Belizean people speak a mixture of Spanish and English, so I had fairly good idea of what they were trying to say. I have always been proud of my ethnic heritage, but we were told that many of the Belizean people look down upon Americans because of the stereotype that we are all spoiled and view ourselves as “better” than others. I was not ashamed of being an American, but I wanted to relate to the Belizean people the best I could aside from the stereotype. This trip was truly the most touching and impacting trip I have ever taken. We had Vacation Bible School for the children and also went to different houses to do construction work. Everyday the pastor and his wife cooked lunch for us and had us in their home to eat. During this trip I had the mindset that we were going to help these people and to show them the love of Christ, but I truly believe that they ended up having a greater impact on me than I had on them.

The most recent cultural experience that I am experiencing is during my current everyday life. I serve as a first-grade teacher at a Title I Distinguished School in Athens, Georgia. Within this program, most all of the students at my school receive a free or reduced breakfast and lunch. The elementary school where I teach has an enrollment of 483 students. Of these students, 48% are African- American, 42% are Hispanic, 3% are multi-racial, and 6% are Caucasian (FDES Annual Performance Report, 2015). We also have 113 ESOL students at my school. The school I am involved with is located in the middle of a neighborhood in the northern quadrant of Athens Clarke County, which is a small urban community. Although I have been teaching at this school for two years, I also completed my practicum hours and student teaching requirements at this school, so I have really been working at this school for a total of three and a half years. Through this experience, I have had the opportunity to build relationships with many of the families who have children attending the school. The school is found wedged between the meeting of rural and urban areas of town where many impoverished families reside. The area seems to be somewhat unfamiliar, to the extent that when I mention the section of town where my school is located, even local Athenians are often uncertain about where the area is that I am describing. The area is almost like a ‘forgotten’ or unknown part of town. Through working at this school I have not only learned about the cultures of my students, but I have also learned how to get to know them on a personal level where I can be the most impactful as a white, American, female teacher.

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Over the years, I have been told that I have similar mannerisms and personality traits of my father, whereas, presently I seem as though I am taking on many of my mother’s “hippy” (folk) remedies and customs that she grew up using. Because of these two different and very similar backgrounds, I have been raised to connect to the American values of individualism, hard work, and self-reliance.  I agree that each person is a unique individual, and throughout my schooling I have been taught to seek my individual identity. I have also been raised with a good work ethic and enjoy doing particular types of work. I am experiencing self-reliance presently as I moved from my hometown to Athens to go to college and am now settled here three years into a teaching position. I have been on my own for five years and am learning to be fully independent. Throughout my lifetime, my family, on both sides, has scattered to various states, so I have also developed a love for traveling. This has instilled in me an interest for different cultures and learning about different ways of life.

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My parents met in Athens at the University of Georgia and were friends for many years before they realized they were in love. My father lived and worked in Medellín, Colombia (in South America) where he taught English. Because of political unrest there (at the time), he was forced to return to Georgia earlier than he had planned. He then acquired employment at Fort Benning and my parents moved to Columbus.  They first had my brother, Thomas, and three years later had me. Our family life has stemmed from these many values and traits that both my mother’s and father’s families possessed. My father works for the Army as a translator, and my mother is a special education teacher. I have grown up as a white, middle-class citizen based on a foundation of Christianity. I feel very strongly about my faith and what it stands for. I have been sheltered most of my life because of my Christian upbringing. My family celebrates the religious holidays, Christmas and Easter. Every year my dad’s side of the family met in Athens, Georgia to celebrate Christmas with my grandmother before she passed away. Since she passed away three years ago, we have had done something new for Christmas each year. During Christmas time, we fellowship, read the Christmas Story from the Bible, eat turkey and dressing, and open gifts. For Easter we go to church and spend the day together as a family and remember Jesus’ death and resurrection. These are the main holidays that we celebrate collectively as a family. We also celebrate Thanksgiving in Atmore, Alabama. My mother’s side of the family meets together to share a Thanksgiving meal and fellowship. We also have many other traditions, but these are the primary ones that we take part in over the holidays. These traditions mean a lot to me and our gatherings have always been special.

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My father is the eldest of three sons, and his family grew up in the South as well, but in the city. Similar to my mother’s family, my father’s ancestors were Christians. Because of this way of life, my father was sheltered and was brought up on a solid moral foundation. In his extended family, the men of the household worked many jobs while the women of the household stayed home, did housework, and nurtured the children. This influenced his immediate family because his parents took part in the same tradition. My grandfather was a chemist while my grandmother stayed home with my father and his brothers. They took part in diverse activities such as Boy Scouts, piano lessons, and Little League baseball; my grandfather was always very supportive of them. My father possesses many of these traits and morals as well. Both of my parents’ unique cultures, in combination, are shaping me into who I am today.

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I was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia on August 25, 1992. One would say that Southern culture seems to be very inviting and comforting in many ways. Although this is all I know, as my culture, I would agree because in general we are a hospitable group of people. In my immediate family, my mother was born in Troy, Alabama, and my father was born in Nashville, Tennessee. My mother is the older of two daughters and her ancestors were from the rural South. They were very creative and believed in using all resources to create something out of the little they owned. She is from an agrarian lineage and because her ancestors grew their own food, they believed that none of it should go to waste. Wholesome, natural foods were a necessity to give them the energy to go about their everyday lives. My mother’s immediate family valued these traits as well. Her family lineage practiced Christianity and viewed everyone as equals, although during her early years, there was the time of racial uproar. My grandparents both possessed professional occupations, and because of my grandfather’s vocation, my mother’s family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada when she was two years old. Canada’s culture and accent began to rub off on her, and a mixture of her ancestor’s lifestyles and her Canadian background has created who she is today and how she is bringing me up.

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Individuals consist of more than what meets the eye. Although it is difficult to branch out of our own individual culture and view the world as someone else sees it, it is the only way that we will truly understand what others see. This is challenging at times because we all want to be accepted, which results in our sometimes not fully opening up to others. As teachers, we are going to be confronted with diverse family backgrounds, cultures, and worldviews. Learning how to accommodate these differences is key. Gaining knowledge about various cultures will aid in selecting teaching methods and recognizing different learning styles. In order to appreciate and understand other cultures, it is important to truly accept one’s own culture and be comfortable around others who may be different. Race, socioeconomic status, religion, gender, and language all create barriers that portray the many differences that each of us have, but we all long to find a place in society. After looking deeper into my own background and history, I have noticed that stereotypes and barriers may be broken, but I am the person I am today because of the way I was brought up and my cultural ways of life.