Meet Lakshmi Singh
Latino staffers at NPR share their family stories of perseverance, sacrifice, and hard work to achieve the American Dream. These stories are defined by universal values of pride, hope, and an endless determination to help shape the new American landscape.
My mother says she was born to be an artist. In Puerto Rico, there were many inspirations for sketching, painting, and dreaming. Fashion was her goal. But, the rules for girls in her day were far more restrictive than they were for men. She required her mother’s permission for virtually everything. Upon graduation from high school at the age of 17, Nancy secured permission to spend summer vacation away from Puerto Rico for the first time. She stayed with family in New York City. Nancy never went back home. She enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Technology, unfamiliar with the school’s prominence and the extreme level of competition she would encounter.
My mother lacked confidence in her ability to master the English language. She engaged very little with other students and faculty. But, her art spoke volumes. For the first time, she was being taken seriously for the art she had always dreamed of sharing with others. At the same time, my father, Jim, was applying to University in the U.S.
Back in Trinidad, Grandma didn’t have much money to give him and couldn’t guide him on colleges. She reached third or fourth grade level. But, she learned enough to realize that education could liberate a person from the confines of their circumstances. However, my grandmother had just enough money to help only one of her 12 children study in the U.S. and, in turn, help the family back home. That responsibility fell to my father. He had one shot to make it work. In the most unusual turn of events, my parents met taking a course completely unrelated to their academic interests. After a few dates, they headed to City Hall and married.
“…there was just enough money to help one of those kids get to the U.S.”
My parents spent the next several decades working to fulfill their dreams, a journey often hampered by ignorance on the part of others. But, they endured. In the process, they learned how to integrate their different cultures and show their children how to embrace both backgrounds with love and respect. However, to this day, my parents remain strong proponents of individuality. They once told us, “Don’t allow your backgrounds to ‘dictate’ who you are as a human being. But let them be a ‘part’ of who you become.”
