Alexander Hamilton: An American Statesman, and a Caribbean immigrant.
(L-R) My Dad And Me
By Mamadou Moctar Traore
When shadowing my father (Moctar Traore) during the winter break, I came to the shocking conclusion that my dad had actually achieved the “American Dream.” I watched him working in “maintenance,“ an occupation which showed me what the average American working class citizen endures just to provide for themselves and their families.
Yet similar to the success story popularized by the Broadway musical about America’s first Secretary of the Treasury, my father created a successful new life for himself by immigrating to America.
To paraphrase a famous poem by Langston Hughes, life wasn’t “a crystal stair” for my dad. I suppose my father would be classified as a “baby boomer,” the term often used to describe Americans of his age group. But by the ripe age of only seven, my dad was already working as a day laborer in the Ivory Coast. After spending much of his youth in Mali and the Ivory Coast he migrated to America when he was 34.
At 36 my father married a beautiful woman, and began to establish a family in America. Gifted with natural ambition and intelligence, he sought new economic opportunities, and always pushed himself to work harder, much Alexander Hamilton did.
Living in the New York during a time of increasing gentrification, my dad saw the rise and fall of various buildings when unscrupulous landlords and others were burning down buildings in the Bronx. He eventually settled in the East Bronx, and had four children, including me.
My father’s positive attitude towards work continues to this day, and he has passed his strong work ethic down to me. Both of us continue to push hard to achieve our personal goals, which is yet another character trait I think we share with Alexander Hamilton. ‘In New York you can be a new man,’ is a quote from the Hamilton musical that sticks with me. My father was simply not the same man after coming to New York. Growing up in a West African country that suffered from political corruption and civil war, he was taught to develop a wide array of skills. From a young age he had to do almost everything himself, and since he had to go to work as a child, finding time and money to complete an academic education was hard.
Still, this obstacle did not stop him from being the hardest working American I know. The sacrifices my father made to improve his status in life paralleled those Mr.Hamilton had to make, even though our lives today are quite different from the lives lived by America’s founding fathers. When opportunity knocked, my dad did not—as the song goes—‘throw away his shot’ when he saw any chance to better himself.
Today, my father struggles to be content with the DIY education he had growing up, just like his father before him. Growing up in poverty, and not completing college, the jobs he could apply for were not the best. Yet he always did his best with whatever was available.
Like Hamilton, My father was able to prove his worth as a worker to various people who were in a position to help him do better. By doing good work for such people, he prospered in ways not unlike how Andrew Hamilton benefitted By working with General Lafayette and George Washington.
Once in America, my Dad tapped into a vast array of local networks, and just like Hamilton he used these connections to get a high paying and sustainable job. It may not be the highest paying career, but it supports our family well, and helps keep us safe at night.
My father may be unknown to most, (just like a certain political figure whose face is in the $10 dollar bill) but those closest to him know his exemplary reputation. This gives my dad pride, so that he exudes a cheerful self-confidence, which makes for a good first impression. My father may not be the most perfect man, yet his good qualities continue to build and coincide with my own. This makes Mr. Moctar Traore my primary example of a Black History Month hero.