Oral history interview with Alex Bruks
Object Details
- 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.
- Interviewer
- Taylor, Grace
- Fleming, Peggy, 1937-
- Names
- Bruks, Alex
- Collection Creator
- Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum
- Place
- Ghana
- West Indies
- Africa
- Takoma Park (Md.)
- Washington (D.C.)
- United States
- Topic
- Businesspeople
- Ashanti (African people)
- Africans
- Caribbeans
- Grocery trade
- Family-owned business enterprises
- Food
- Emigration and immigration
- Agricultural industries
- Manners and customs
- Rites and ceremonies
- Interviews
- Interviewer
- Taylor, Grace
- Fleming, Peggy, 1937-
- Culture
- Ghanaians
- See more items in
- Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records
- Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records / Series 3: Oral History Interviews
- Sponsor
- Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
- Extent
- 1 Digital file
- 1 Sound cassette
- Date
- 1993 May 28
- Archival Repository
- Anacostia Community Museum Archives
- Type
- Archival materials
- Digital files
- Sound cassettes
- Citation
- Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
- 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.
- Note
- The total playing time of interview recording is approximately 43 minutes.
- Scope and Contents
- Alex Bruks, co-owner of Bruks International Market, spoke about the origin and history of Bruks International Market, which opened in 1990; the products, including imported grocery items from Africa and the Caribbean, sold in the market; demographics of his customers; how the store came to be located in Takoma Park, Maryland; his employees; and future plans. Bruks also spoke about the town where he was born and his school experience in Ghana; his extensive work experience in the agriculture, poultry, and meat industries; his migration to the United States in 1975; his higher education experience in Indiana and Ohio; his family; his decision to become a United States citizen; Ghanaian government policies; the African and Caribbean communities in Washington, DC; and festivities or ceremonies when introducing newly born child to the community, including the food served, and Ashanti cultural dances and clothing. Alex Bruks was interviewed by Peggy Fleming and Grace Taylor at Bruks International Market in Takoma Park, Maryland on May 28, 1993. Interview is in English; Bruks spoke briefly to a customer in Ashanti. Digital audio files include white noise and static, and background noise throughout entire interview. Interviewee's voice is intelligible for the most part.
- Collection Restrictions
- Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
- Record ID
- ebl-1712088000981-1712088003342-0
- Metadata Usage
- CC0