Asians in Minnesota Oral History Project: Interview with Benjamin S. and Melissa S. Arriola

Titles: Asians in Minnesota Oral History Project: Interview with Benjamin S. and Melissa S. Arriola (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Benjamin S. Arriola was born in Minneapolis on February 26, 1961, and his sister, Melissa S., was born on July 20, 1963, in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Their parents arrived in Minnesota from the Philippines one and a half years before Benjamin was born. They have both attended public schools in Richfield, and Benjamin, a high school senior, plans to study engineering at the University of Minnesota. Unlike their first cousins who live a block from the Arriola home (see interviews of Marietta and Cristeta Andrada, also in this oral history project), the Arriola children have not been active participants in Filipino cultural activities, but instead have focused on social activities with school friends. Nevertheless, the four children, whose mothers are sisters, have always spent a great deal of time in each other's homes, and the Filipino cultural tradition of their immigrant parents has been an important influence in their lives. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Benjamin and Melissa discuss the ways in which they are more adapted to American ways than their parents and also the influence of Filipino values on their early development. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: This very short interview is interesting mainly for the children's statements near the end, in which they describe the importance of their parents' cultural background in their own development, despite conscious efforts to be American. Part of the tape is marred by poor audio quality, but all of the interview is understandable.

Dates

• 01/13/1979 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Arriola, Melissa S.
• interviewee: Arriola, Benjamin S.
• interviewer: Mason, Sarah R.

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 51
• Accession Number: AV1981.361.26b

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Asians in Minnesota Oral History Project' <OH 51>

Quantity: .75 hours sound cassette 8 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 00:11:27 running time

Subjects

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