Dear Diary,

My mother, my father, my birth giver, my motivation, my everything. I wasn’t aware of so many important things in her life. I never fully thought about my mom’s earlier life and what she went through. I’ve taken time out of my day to interview my mom for my Oral History Project interview. To prepare for the interview, I asked her to think of archival material to talk about and had some questions ready to ask her to get the most information out of her. This oral history project honors the legacy of my mother because she’s able to express what makes her the person she is. It tells a story of my mom that has left an important mark in her life and that makes her unique. 

The archival material my mom chose was a green card. She chose the green card to represent her struggles, it’s very valuable to her because without she wouldn’t have been able to live or work to start her life in America. In this interview, my mother explained to me her life in Jamaica versus her life after moving to America. She stated how there were more opportunities for her in America.

During the interview, I was starting to get a little emotional because my mother was providing information on how she grew up and she was mentioning my grandparents. I know it is an emotional topic for her because my grandmother passed away, so I noticed that she was getting emotional while talking about it. I felt nervous because I wasn’t sure if it would feel natural due to not asking my mom about her past. For my mom, I think it didn’t feel natural for her too because she told me she was having difficulties finding answers to my questions because she had a boring life due to her parents being strict. 

After this interview, I’ve been educated on the events that happened in my mother’s life which made me see her from a different view. I hope listeners/viewers learn that my mother is a strong woman who goes for and works hard for anything she wants.