Abstract Lois Athey tells the story of the Latin American Festival in the years 1988 - 1990. As a volunteer during those years, Athey organized the food booths and helped the volunteer Festival Committee secure their 501c3 status after the 1988 Festival. When the Festival President Arturo Griffiths moved the Festival to the Washington Monument grounds in 1989, Athey helped the team negotiate permits for the use of the Mall. She describes the problems and issues that the Festival faced during those...

Abstract Lois Athey tells the story of the Latin American Festival in the years 1988 - 1990. As a volunteer during those years, Athey organized the food booths and helped the volunteer Festival Committee secure their 501c3 status after the 1988 Festival. When the Festival President Arturo Griffiths moved the Festival to the Washington Monument grounds in 1989, Athey helped the team negotiate permits for the use of the Mall. She describes the problems and issues that the Festival faced during those...

Scope and Contents Marcia Howard, long-time company member of Coyaba Dance Theater and coordinator of the Coyaba Youth Academy, reflects on her life and passion for dance. Howard speaks about her childhood growing up in Baltimore, her dance training, and early recollections of racial tension in the country. After a brief hiatus, Howard talks about how dance reentered her life and became her sole purpose, leading her to travel around the world to perform and study dances of the African diaspora, as well as hold...

Abstract Audio of interview with Marta Burrell. Ms. Burrell discusses immigrating from Paraguay and adjusting to a new culture and way of life. She first attended the DC Latino Festival the last time it was held in Adams Morgan in 1988. Then she met Walter Burrell who was actively involved in the 1989-1990 Festivals. Burrell was excited to see the Festival move to the Mall. She recalls meeting the mayor, and was amazed at seeing the wide variety of representations from all the Latin American and...

Abstract Norberto Borja describes the early years when his family migrated from Colombia and lived on Ontario Road in Adams Morgan. Borja describes the neighborhood in the 1970’s: full of Latino families who knew each other. He describes his first job working at the SED Center, located next to his house. Borja first got involved in the D C Latino Festival in the early years when it was held on Colombia Rd. He describes how his young Colombian group of drummers was asked to perform in the Festival. By...

Abstract Audio interview of Norma Small-Warren. She describes how her mother, Olga Small, started the Panamanian folkloric group, and how it grew when the Festival moved to the Mall in 1989. Small-Warren reflects on how the Festival brought Latinos together with the common goal of presenting the dances and music from the various Latin American countries. She believes that the Festival outgrew its space on Columbia Road and that exposure on Constitution Avenue and the Mall was the way to expand the...

Scope and Contents

The D.C. Jazz Festival Oral History Project contains four audio interviews conducted by Rusty Hassan and Willard Jenkins in 2017. Indexes and transcripts are included for all interviews.

Scope and Contents

The Oral History of DanceAfrica, D.C. contains six audio interviews conducted by Sarah Greenbaum and Jonathan Hsu in 2018. Indexes and transcripts are included for all interviews.

Scope and Contents

This series is the second grant for Oral History of DanceAfrica, D.C. DanceAfrica is a celebration of dance forms of the African Diaspora and is held annually in Washington, D.C., New York, New York, and Chicago, Illinois. The festival includes performance, films, master classes, educational programming, and a bazaar. This oral history project features six interviews with members of the DanceAfrica, D.C. elders’ council.

Abstract This project interviewed a group of people who were present during the 1989-1990 annual D.C. Latino Festival. It documents the first time the DC Latino immigrant community was given a permit to occupy a public space so sacred to national history- the national Mall and the Monument grounds. The project asked important research questions such as: 'why did the D.C. Latino community decide to move the parade to Constitution Avenue NW and the festival to the National Mall and what impact did that...