Immigrant Oral Experience Interview

Abstract

I had the pleasure of interviewing Olive, an Air Force wife and mother who immigrated to the United States from Port Antonio, Jamaica. Born in 1933, Olive moved to several places around the world and now has six children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. I am her granddaughter. The themes that we focused during the interview were: Early Childhood, Jamaican Culture, Racial Identity, Military Life and the Civil Rights Movement. Olive has a unique story in many ways. She was an interracial Jamaican who married an African-American military officer. In the early 1970s, Olive become mildly involved in the Civil Rights movement after meeting Rosa Parks. Throughout this interview you will read about the experience of an extraordinary Jamaican immigrant who became a world traveler and a living source of history.