Remembering back to my childhood, I can't ever recall our family ever doing anything that related to our ethnic or cultural roots. My maternal side is made up of German/Russian and Polish/Cherokee. My paternal side is made up of Irish immigrants. The only thing that I recall about any of my family living up to their culture or ethnic roots are my mother's side of the family, and it wasn't that culturally significant. It seemed as though all the men on that side of my family were alcoholics, but was it due to us being German or the fact that they just liked drinking. .
I tried to call all of the family members on both sides that are still living to try to get some type of family history or something that could help with this assignment, but I never even received a call back. So at this point, all I can do is give you a little history into my American background. I should mention, that after several failed attempts at seeking the history on at least some part of my family background. I decided to get online and look up what I could about my family. This was a very hard task for me, considering I only know my grandparents names, and not all of them mind you. So I did find that my great-great grandfather was German/Russian and was born in raised in Minnesota back in 1854. He was a farmer who earned his own land and somewhat wealth in his own way.
I never grew up knowing any of my father's side, his father passed away before I was born and his mother passed away when I was around five years old. I only met her a few times, since my father was not very family oriented. For some reason, he cut ties with them and only seen them when he felt the need, which was rare. I do recall seeing my grandmother twice, once when she lived in a very tall apartment complex in downtown Nashville. She lived on one of the top floors and had the most putrid looking furniture and served me Tomato juice. The second time I seen her, she was in a nursing home and was recovering from electric shock therapy.