African American Family Structure

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Pages: 6
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Introduction
In the following pages I will discuss both the differences and similarities in the family structure between Greek and African American families. Also, I will compare and contrast the way in which Greek and African American families grieve. Lastly, I will give my own personal account of experiencing grief while in another country away from home, and my family.
Background
Before going to Greece I experienced the most tragic element of my lifetime; my mother passed away. On February 15, 2014 I got a phone call that would forever alter my life. Hearing my older sister’s voice on the opposite end the phone saying “Jess, I went over to mom’s house this morning and found her dead on the floor” will always be on constant replay in my …show more content…
I explained to her how anxious I was about finding out whether I got accepted into the program or not. I also remember telling her that I was worried about how I would pay for it. My mother calmed me and told me not to worry, that I would get to Greece somehow, and that she would make sure of it. On February 11, 2014 I got the email I had been waiting for; I had been accepted into my study abroad program! I remember being so excited and the first person I called was my mother to tell her the good news. I did not receive an answer, but I knew that my mother would call me back when she got the chance. Three days of unanswered calls to my mother’s phone and I began to worry. It wasn’t like my mother to not answer her phone or not call me back. When my sister called me on February 15, 2014 and told me that our mother had died, it all made sense that’s why my mother hadn’t answered my phone calls. My mother never got to know my good …show more content…
To this day I still haven’t accepted my mother’s death. There are days where I still dial her phone number anticipating her voice only to be shocked at the disconnect message. There are times where I hear my mother calling my name and find myself answering to her. For me it is more like being a bad dream. According to other Greek people that I spoke with I was informed that Konstantinos’s outlook on death was simply individual. I was told that most Greeks do not usually move on as fast as Konstantinos‘s did with the loss of a love one. In fact, the typical mourning period for most Greeks is forty days. During this time those in mourning wear only black. I find that the typical mourning period between Greeks and African Americans are the same. I mourned the loss of my mother for five weeks. The only difference is that most African Americans only wear black on the day of the funeral whereas Greeks wear black clothing for the entire mourning period. Lastly, Greeks may choose to extend their mourning period to one year; in some cases widows choose to mourn for the rest of their lives. In the African American culture there isn’t a specific set amount of mourning days. In African American culture mourning time is based on the individual, but is usually a private and slow
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