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
- Santos, Dario
- Names
- Public Schools of the District of Columbia
- Duvalier, François, 1907-1971
- Thomas, Marie-Therese Labossiere
- Collection Creator
- Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum
- Place
- Haiti
- Alexandria (Va.)
- France
- Washington (D.C.)
- United States
- Topic
- Haitians
- Women
- Teachers
- Women teachers
- Authors
- Women authors
- African Americans
- Publications
- Education
- Education, Bilingual
- Multilingual education
- Multicultural education
- Students
- Discrimination
- World politics
- Government and politics
- African diaspora
- Community organization
- Emigration and immigration
- Refugees
- Imperialism
- Language and languages
- Interviews
- Interviewer
- Santos, Dario
- 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
- 2 Digital files
- 1 Sound cassette
- Date
- circa 1992-1993
- 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 2 hours.
- Scope and Contents
- Marie-Therese Thomas spoke about the origin and evolution of Kiskeya, a community newsletter that she published for Haitians and other French speakers; organizing programs for the Haitian community; teaching Haitian history to children and adults; the evolution of the Haitian community in the Washington, DC region; and the African American museum in Alexandria, VA. Thomas explained the growth of the Haitian community in Washington, DC in the 1980s; her research about Haitian students attending and services offered by DC public schools; the reorganization of the department of bilingual education in DC public schools; lack of services, including lack of translation and ESL instruction, for Haitian children, and Creole and French speakers in DC public schools; Haitian parents did not understand the educational system; Haitian students, who had been through the criminal justice system, had no instruction in their native language or ESL instruction; bias toward Haitians; and links between Haitians and African Americans. Thomas spoke about the creation of the career orientation program for all high school students, including Creole and French speakers, and the adult literacy project for Creole speakers; and the importance of adding cultural context to ESL instruction courses. Thomas stated she led workshops about children of the African diaspora; developed a television program, Kafou, about the Haitian population in the school system with DC public schools; and developed multi-cultural skill development program with the University of the District Columbia for adult students. Thomas also spoke about Haiti's political and economic history, including relationship with United States and France; large number of African Americans settling in Haiti; automatic Haitian citizenship for those of African descent; a pharmacy, in the Hayti neighborhood of Alexandria, VA, that registered people who wanted to go to and live in Haiti; education in Haiti; people migrating to Haiti and Haitians migrating away from Haiti; Haitian refugees in the United States; the American occupation; the colonial history of Haiti; and French and Creole. Thomas also explained she is from a family of educators, her lifelong interest in education and history, her educational experience in Haiti, the Duvalier regime and "climate of terror" when she lived in Haiti, and her exile from Haiti and migration to the United States in 1966. Marie-Therese Thomas was interviewed by Dario Santos. Interview is in English. Digital audio files include white noise and static, and some background noise. Interviewee's voice is intelligible for the most part. There is no audio for short period of time near the middle of ACMA_AV002390_A.
- Collection Restrictions
- Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
- Record ID
- ebl-1712088000981-1712088003370-1
