Rose Popp

EDU 280
Cultural Autobiography
I have a very unique background. As stated before, I was born and raised in Las Vegas,

Nevada, specifically the infamous “east side” or as it is seen on the map- Sunrise Manor. I am of

Native American, Mexican American, and Caucasian descent. My mother is a quarter Native

American, a quarter Caucasian, and half Mexican American. My biological father is full

Mexican. I say biological because I was not raised by him. When I was about two years old, my

parents split and she met my soon to be step-father, and then soon to be father. When my mother

and step-father got together, she already had me and he had a son from a previous relationship a

year prior. I call my step-father, dad, because he is the one who has raised me and been the only

father figure in my life. When I was about fifteen years old, my mother terminated my biological

father’s parental rights and my step-father adopted me. Together, my mother and father had two

daughters. So, I have a total of three siblings. I have one brother on my biological father’s side,

also. My siblings and I didn’t grow up in a religious household. I didn’t come to have a personal

relationship with God until I became an adult and wanted to learn for personal reasons. My

parents always taught my sisters, brother, and I about the Golden Rule, to respect our elders,

about manners and morals, serving others, and each of us have only love to give from how we

grew up.

Because my biological father’s parental rights were terminated and I was not close to

him, I feel a disconnect from my roots. My maternal grandmother who was half Native

American and half Caucasian, named me Rosamaria, which I do not like, and soon hope to

legally change to Rose. Some of my family member’s from my biological father’s side have
reached out to me and I hope one day, I can reunite with them, since I was somewhat close to

them before the termination of my biological father’s parental rights. I was raised in a

“white-household”- My father who adopted me is Caucasian. I am more curious and in touch

with my Native American side the most. Growing up, we would always travel back to Kansas,

where my mother’s side of the family is from, and visit Pow-Wows: an Indian ceremony

involving feasting, singing, and dancing. I love attending the Pow-Wows and even dreamed of

being in regalia and dancing! Most people that first meet me ask me if I’m Indian/Native

American because I have strong Native American features such as the long hair and high

cheekbones.

Still, I also don’t feel a part of those roots, either. My mother barely made the cut when

her mother enrolled her in a tribe. My mother is from the tribe, Prairie Band Potawatomi. She

even gets what’s called “per-cap” or money, which they send to the Native Americans enrolled

in a tribe. Because my siblings and I are only one eighth, we couldn’t make the cut to be enrolled

in a tribe or receive per-cap. My mother has many benefits of being enrolled, such as: her tribe

can pay for her college tuition fees, receiving money every five years for home remodeling, and

they even gave her money for a down payment on the house they currently live in. I wish I was

enrolled in the tribe! Not for financial reasons specifically, but a lot of my mother’s family

members have Native American names that they are given by Elders and I’ve always wanted a

Native American name.

As you can tell, I grew up asking myself one question: Who am I? I wasn’t raised with

my Mexican family, didn’t get the opportunity to learn Spanish like I wanted to, and was ripped

of relationships with family that I was just getting close to and I’m “not enough” Native
American to be recognized as a member of the tribe and receive little to no benefits of being

Native American. However, I did an Ancestry DNA test not too long ago, and the results told me

that about seventy five percent of my DNA originated from Indigenous America- Mexico,

Indigenous America- North, Spain, and France. I’m unsure really of how true those results are,

but it was interesting to find out. Because I am so multiculturally mixed, I have found that I love

the diversity of things. And as I feel like I’m still trying to figure out who I am, I love to just live

in the moment and take in that I’m a descent of two of the most popular types of people, that is

Indeginous, Mexico and North America. My ancestors on both sides of my biological parents’

families could possibly be considered the first people in those territories and that’s something to

be proud of.