Interview with Marva Douglas
IntervieweeInterview with
Marva Douglas
Jamaican, born 1957
Date2001 May 18
Mediumdigitized audio cassette tape
DimensionsDuration (side 1): 47 Minutes, 39 Seconds
Duration (side 2): 13 Minutes, 51 Seconds
Duration (total runtime): 1 Hour, 1 Minute, 30 Seconds
Duration (side 2): 13 Minutes, 51 Seconds
Duration (total runtime): 1 Hour, 1 Minute, 30 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineGift of the CHS Exhibitions Department
Description(a-d) Audio cassette tape of an interview with Marva Douglas, who was interviewed by Fiona Vernal on May 18, 2001. (e) Black and white portrait photograph of Marva Douglas.
Topics discussed include Douglas' generational connection to Jamaica; migration to the United States during the winter of 1970; her family background; the close-knit community in Jamaica; her school experiences and the hostility towards West Indians; differences between school in Jamaica and the United States; ideas about the U.S.; dealing with the reality of working hard in America; "finding out she is black" and dealing with discrimination; finding a support network within her family; college and her career; reasons for settling in Hartford; the rest of her family migrating to the U.S.; her father's occupation after migration; trends in the Jamaican migrant population in Hartford; the growth and expansion of businesses and cultural activities; food stories; socializing at the West Indian Social Club; her work with the Club; the crucial role of women in the Auxiliary; West Indian and American women in the Club; West Indian Independence Celebration and Carnival; controversy over Carnival; solumn independence versus fun Carnival; differences among West Indians; and passing on West Indian heritage to her children and her children's accomplishments.
2013.26.31a-d consists of two sides, the tape, and a J-card.
2013.26.31e: photograph
Topics discussed include Douglas' generational connection to Jamaica; migration to the United States during the winter of 1970; her family background; the close-knit community in Jamaica; her school experiences and the hostility towards West Indians; differences between school in Jamaica and the United States; ideas about the U.S.; dealing with the reality of working hard in America; "finding out she is black" and dealing with discrimination; finding a support network within her family; college and her career; reasons for settling in Hartford; the rest of her family migrating to the U.S.; her father's occupation after migration; trends in the Jamaican migrant population in Hartford; the growth and expansion of businesses and cultural activities; food stories; socializing at the West Indian Social Club; her work with the Club; the crucial role of women in the Auxiliary; West Indian and American women in the Club; West Indian Independence Celebration and Carnival; controversy over Carnival; solumn independence versus fun Carnival; differences among West Indians; and passing on West Indian heritage to her children and her children's accomplishments.
2013.26.31a-d consists of two sides, the tape, and a J-card.
2013.26.31e: photograph
Object number2013.26.31a-e
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.
Subject Terms
On View
Not on view
