Addie Green – owner, manager, and chef of The Islander, a restaurant located on Columbia Road in northwest Washington, DC – explained the boundaries of the Adams Morgan neighborhood. She talked in detail about her restaurant The Islander, her migration from Trinidad to England to the United States, her love for her country and childhood memories in Trinidad, her leadership in building the Caribbean community in the Washington, DC area, her mother's migration to and work in the United States, and the importance of cultural authenticity when organizing and running events, particularly carnivals and festivals. Note, Addie Green is also known as Adeletha "Addie" Green.
Green explained The Islander specializes in Trinidadian cuisine but also cooks and serves foods from other Caribbean islands; the founding of the restaurant in 1978 and how the menu evolved; and she visits the islands to learn about the food and how to cook the food before she prepares it in her restaurant. She talked about the reviews she and The Islander have received from the press, including The Washington Post; and catering for government agencies, events, and festivals, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Caribbean Festival Day.
Green talked about her experience traveling on a Norwegian ship to England, attending school in England, and marrying her American husband and birthing her first child in England. She explained why did not want to migrate to the United States; that racial differences, discrimination, and bias did not register for her until she arrived in the United States; her experience working in the United States; how and why she got involved in the food and restaurant industry; and her husband's reaction to her working outside of the house. Green also talked about cultural organizations, including the Trinidad-Tobago Association, Jamaican National, and West Indian American Cultural Organization; how and why the Caribbean community has changed in Washington, DC; carnival culture in Trinidad and how it differs from carnivals and festivals in the United States; and Trinidadian athletic societies represented in Washington DC area.
Interview is in English. Digital audio files include loud music and talking in background. Interviewee's voice is intelligible for the most part; interviewer's voice is soft and difficult to hear at times.
General:
Associated documentation for this interview is available in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
Title created by ACMA staff using text written on sound cassette, contents of audio recording, textual transcript, and/or associated archival documentation.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Dera Tompkins spoke about her parents, including their work, role in the home, and political life; her childhood, growing up in Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, with her own personality and vision; her siblings; the disciplinarian in her family; her elementary and high school experience; her religious background; family history, including the origin of her family name, Carrington; racism in Boston, Massachusetts; and growing up in a community of activists and her involvement in the Civil Rights movement.
Tompkins explained her progression from civil rights to the Rastafarian movement. She spoke about her educational experience at Howard University, including studying parenting and the roots of Black English, specifics about her professors, her ignorance at the time, and learning about the Trinidadian community. Tompkins also spoke about learning about Jamaica from Stokely Carmichael; visits to Jamaica, including conversations with Mutabaruka and visiting Mutabaruka's house; learning about Rastafarianism from Mutabaruka and how to balance Rastafarianism with her Black US experience; and looking at the bible through African eyes. She explained parts of the Rastafarian doctrine, her family's and friends' reaction to her transition to Rastafarianism, the positives and negatives of Rastafarianism, the impact of Rastafarianism on the hip hop movement, her adjustments to food as a Rasta, and fighting stereotypes about Rastafarians.
Tompkins also spoke about the legacy of Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, socialism, Pan-Africanism, dreadlocks, Haile Selassie, marijuana, reggae music, dancehall music, and her role after the Washington, DC police department executed Operation Caribbean Cruise in 1986.
Interview is in English. Digital audio files include loud white noise and static, some sound distortions / voices distorted, and a few instances of background noise. Interviewee can be heard and voices are intelligible for most of the interview.
General:
Associated documentation for this interview is available in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
Title created by ACMA staff using text written on sound cassette, contents of audio recording, textual transcript, and/or associated archival documentation.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
John Blake spoke about his migration from Trinidad to the United States, including his first experiences and first impression, and cultural differences, in 1970; living in a group house with his brother in Washington, DC; and Howard University.
Blake explained his interest in radio broadcasting; changing careers from quantity surveying / building estimating to broadcasting; the origin, history, and evolution of his radio program, "Caribbean Experience"; the importance of his radio program to the community; and the importance of a network of information for the Caribbean community, which led to Caribbean communities understanding each other better.
Blake spoke about teaching radio production; reggae and calypso music; reggae musicians, including Eddy Grant and the musical group, Third World; the relationship between music genres in and across the Caribbean, Africa, and the United States; and why was reggae music embraced by the African American community. He also spoke about the African diaspora; civil rights movement and uprisings in Washington, DC; Black consciousness movement; Operation Caribbean Cruise, a Washington, DC police drug investigation and raid which targeted the Jamaican and Caribbean community; and how Jamaicans and Caribbeans are generalized and stereotyped.
John Blake was interviewed by Hector Corporan. Interview is in English. Digital audio files include minimal white noise and static. Interviewee's voice is intelligible.
General:
Associated documentation for this interview is available in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
Title created by ACMA staff using text written on sound cassette, contents of audio recording, textual transcript, and/or associated archival documentation.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Black Fashion Museum founded by Lois K. Alexander-Lane
101 As Long as It's Born in My House It's Mine (Lieutenant Joe).
107 Me One Alone.
109 My Experiences on the Reaperbahn.
111 Auf Weidersehen.
113 Fidel Castro.
117 Crisis in Arkansas.
121 My Experiences on the Reaperbahn.
123 West Indian Woman.
Local Numbers:
FW-ASCH-10RR-0476
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: New York, United States 31, 1961.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
