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Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.27d, Connecticut Historical Society, No Known C…
Interview with Raymond H. Davis
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.27d, Connecticut Historical Society, No Known Copyright

Interview with Raymond H. Davis

Date2001 May 2
Mediumdigitized audio cassette tape
DimensionsDuration (side 1): 44 Minutes, 24 Seconds
Duration (side 2): 29 Minutes, 3 Seconds
Duration (total runtime): 1 Hour, 13 Minutes, 28 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineGift of the CHS Exhibitions Department
DescriptionAudio cassette tape of an interview with Raymond H. Davis, who was interviewed by Fiona Vernal on May 2, 2001.

Topics discussed include Davis' childhood in Jamaica; reasons for migrating; education; playing cricket as a young boy and working in the Income Tax Department before emigrating; emigrating to pursue other goals besides becoming a teacher; his father's occupation as a carpenter and contractor and his mother staying at home; buying time with his parents until he figured out what career to pursue; his decision to stay in the United States; race relations in the U.S. and Jamaica; distinguishing between West Indians and African Americans; farm workers paving the way for the next generation; generational differences; generational differences in migration opportunities; the prospects of returning to Jamaica; difficulties of adjusting to the slower pace of life in Jamaica; the values and value of West Indian culture; the generation of the 1980s and increasing Americanization; his occupational history; reflections on women's independence and its abuses; the West Indian Social Club; the decline of discipline; lending his financial expertise to the West Indian Social Club; his activities as president of the Club; the problem of internal unity; anti-West Indian sentiments; bringing all West Indian organizations together; West Indian camaraderie; making celebrations more Carnivalesque; and West Indian sayings.

2013.26.27a-d consists of two sides, the tape, and a J-card.
Object number2013.26.27a-d
NotesSubject Note: In 1999, the West Indian Social Club of Hartford and the West Indian Foundation asked the Connecticut Historical Society to join them in documenting the lives of the West Indian immigrants who first came to the Hartford area in the 1940s to work on local tobacco farms. What began as a project designed to record the experiences of these early pioneers - mostly men from Jamaica - subsequently grew to include audio and videotaped interviews of men and women, elders and young people, longtime residents and more recent arrivals to the Greater Hartford area, both from Jamaica and the other English-speaking, independent countries in the Caribbean. The exhibition explored a common thread that seems to link people’s individual stories: the challenge of putting down roots in a new place while maintaining ties with the people, history, and cultural heritage of their homelands in the West Indies. The exhibition, "Finding a Place, Maintaining Ties: Greater Hartford’s West Indians," was on view at the Connecticut Historical Society from July 2, 2002 – August 31, 2003.
On View
Not on view
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.9e, Connecticut Historical Society
Horace Johnson
2000 November 20
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.29d, Connecticut Historical Society, No Known C…
Edwin Carty
2001 May 14
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.18.3, Connecticut Historical Society
Narciso Airey
2001 January 16
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.25d, Connecticut Historical Society, No Known C…
Alvin Watson
2001 February 20
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.16e, Connecticut Historical Society
Keith L. Carr Sr.
2000 December 7
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.2.3, Connecticut Historical Society
Mark V. Foster
2000 November 5
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.12d, Connecticut Historical Society, No Known C…
Desmond Collins
2000 November 28
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.1.4, Connecticut Historical Society
Sydney Barnett
2000 October 15
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.32e, Connecticut Historical Society
Doreth Flowers
2001 May 21
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.31e, Connecticut Historical Society
Marva Douglas
2001 May 18
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.23d, Connecticut Historical Society, No Known C…
Leslie G. Perry
2001 February 12
Gift of the CHS Exhibitions Department, 2013.26.13.3, Connecticut Historical Society
Dermoth Brown
2000 November 30