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Oral history interview with William Brown-Orleans

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
Ghana. Embassy (U.S.)
Brown-Orleans, William Percival (1931-2022)
Collection Creator
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum
Place
Ghana
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Topic
Fanti (African people)
Ashanti (African people)
Teachers
Identity
Manners and customs
Rites and ceremonies
Fanti language
Associations, institutions, etc.
Colonization
Cultural relations
Emigration and immigration
Poetry
Churches
Interviews
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
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 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Scope and Contents
William Brown-Orleans spoke extensively about Fanti people, and their identity, culture, philosophy, values, and language. He told many stories to exemplify what he explained about Fanti culture, including language, marriage, naming of children, expected births, and importance of ancestorial roots. Brown-Orleans also spoke about the Ashanti people, and their culture; and the formation and building membership of a Fanti organization in 1989 to promote the culture and identity of Fanti people. Brown-Orleans explained white men's arrival in Ghana, and white men's contact with Fanti people and Ashanti people; how Fanti people allowed their culture to be alternated; the relationship between white people and Fanti people, and white people and Ashanti people; and Fanti people embraced the white men and their culture, and coexistence. Brown-Orleans spoke about why he migrated with his wife and kids to the United States in 1978; attending university in Ghana; being the headmaster of a senior high school in Ghana; visiting Ghana often; writing poems in his dialect, Fanti; repairing family home in Ghana; Ghanaian churches in the Washington, DC area; Fanti performance troupe in Washington, DC; and the work of the Ghanaian Embassy, where he works. Interview is in English and Fanti (minimal). Digital audio files include white noise and static, and a little sound interference. Interviewee's voice is low volume on occasion, but it 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.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1712088000981-1712088003378-1
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa7f7fe953d-b693-4b8c-ae0c-29c76ab7e836

Related Content

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

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