No. 760 Abinadi Burns, 2012

File — Box: 73, Folder: 3

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Abinadi Burns (b. 1985) was born and raised in Georgia. His father is African American and is from Georgia and his mother is Samoan. Burns’ mother was on a Mormon mission in Georgia when she met his father. He talks about how they met, dated, and got married. He goes to university at BYU in Utah. Burns has six siblings but three of them are half siblings.
Burns’ mother was the first of her family to move to America. She was also the first to become a Mormon. He talks about his mother’s history in the Mormon Church and his father’s history in the Mormon Church. He talks about trying to learn Samoan growing up and his mother trying to teach him and his siblings Samoan. He and his siblings were never able to really learn the language. Burns and his siblings never had to be pushed or disciplined when it came to education. Their parents taught them how important education is and they understood and did well in school. He talks about the stories his parents would tell him about their educations. He discusses his father’s experience growing up in the segregated South. Burns decided to go to BYU because his brother was going there, it would be inexpensive, and he would get a good education. He discusses his first impressions of Utah when he moved there to go to BYU. Burns discusses being Polynesian in Georgia and Utah. He grew up in a predominantly white part of Georgia but there were more black people than there are in Utah. People didn’t even know what Polynesian meant in Georgia. In Utah, there is less diversity, but more Polynesians and Burns feels that the people are nicer in Utah. He talks about visiting Samoa. He wasn’t very impressed after his first visit because there had just been a hurricane. But every time after that he thought Samoa was beautiful. He talks about his experiences with the Samoan people and his Samoan relatives. Burns describes his involvement with Living Legends and talks about how he first started performing in the program. Burns went on a Mormon mission to Brazil. He loved learning the language and learned it quickly. He also loved the people and the culture of Brazil and found the people to be similar to the Polynesian people. He talks about his goals for the future. Burns wants to be an endontist and live somewhere warm. He’d like to have a big family with six to eight children.
Project: Pacific Islander oral history project.
Interviewer: Savani Aupiu

Dates

2012

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.