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Oral history interview with Paul Hawkins

Anacostia Community Museum

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.
Names
Hawkins, Paul
Collection Creator
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum
Place
Washington (D.C.)
Baltimore (Md.)
Topic
Latin Americans
Black Latin Americans
Musicians
Music
Dance
Bands (Music)
Community organization
Race
Racism
Segregation
Violence
Interviews
Culture
Cubans
Puerto Ricans
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
3 Digital files
2 Sound cassettes
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 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Scope and Contents
Paul Hawkins, born as Paul G. Harkins, spoke about his childhood growing up in northeast Washington, DC; his father, who was a semi-pro baseball player, Sandlot semi-pro coach of baseball, and founder of a football league; enlisting for the navy in 1952 and his experience stationed in a minecraft base in Charleston, South Carolina, including his introduction to Latin music (Cuban); how and when he learned Latin dance; and participating in dance contests. He spoke about lots of specific Latin and Cuban musicians and dancers. Hawkins explained Jewish people were the main audience / dancers for Latin music and dancing and the main group of people hiring bands; and that Los Americanos, a "Black-oriented Latin sounding group", was "the first Black-oriented Latin sounding group that infiltrated the Jewish side of the fence". Hawkins spoke about his band, Orquesta del Siglo Veinte, and the composition of the band's audience, multi-racial. He described the many clubs, venues, and dancehalls where his band performed in Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD. Hawkins explained his band hosted dances which attracted, formed, and grew the Latin community, which mostly consisted of Cubans and Puerto Ricans. He also explained this was the beginning of the forming of the political Latin community in Washington, DC and witnessing racial strife and separation within the Latin community as the community was organizing with no Black leaders on either side, Cubans or Puerto Ricans. Hawkins also spoke about the bomb scares during dances because the promoters did not like each other; losing jobs because venue owners did not want integrated audiences in their establishments; and organized fights breaking out during dances. Interview is in English. Digital audio files include minimal white noise and static; interviewee can be heard clearly for the most part.
Collection Restrictions
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1712088000981-1712088003373-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa70b7a6b25-662b-416d-b65a-b276ae1c0288

Related Content

  • Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records

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