Our Story
The first seed for the Dominica Oral History project was planted years ago when I met auntie Evy at the Baystate Dominica Association in Boston, Massachusetts. Aunt Evy was not a relative, but we all affectionately called her auntie Evy. Her full name was Evy King.
In passing, auntie Evy mentioned that she arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. Being a lover of history, I was intrigued. What a story, I thought? I had heard of immigrants from Europe coming through Ellis Island. However, I was not aware of anyone from Dominica making the journey. According to the Statue of Liberty Foundation, over 12 million immigrants came through Ellis Island to pursue the American Dream from 1892 to 1924.
I wanted to learn more about auntie Evy’s experiences. Sadly, auntie Evy passed away before I had the opportunity to hear a story about coming to America at one of the busiest immigration inspection stations in the United States.
Fast forward to 2022, I searched for auntie Evy, and I found her! I found auntie Evy’s passenger records on the Ellis Island database. There she was, passenger ID 601037010036, Manifest Line Number 0006. The last place of residence was Dominica West Indies (BWI). Auntie Evy was nine years and seven months old when she left the Port of Dominica and set sail for New York. She arrived on April 19th, 1924, on the Canadian ship named Guiana.
The second seed for the Dominica Oral History project occurred when my godmother Ma Pampo died at 128 years. All these years, she was my naneen who cared for me. On my way home from school, I had to stop at her home to enjoy her “braff” with famous hard dumplings followed by some mangoes or sugar cane. We sat on the steps looking out to the yard as we ate while her cats ….played. Little did I know that I was in the company of a centenarian who made headlines in Time Magazine as the world’s oldest living human when she was 125 years.
I imagined the stories she would have talked about life as an enslaved person growing up on the plantation on Picard Estate.
What started with an interest in documenting the stories of centenarians has evolved. When the opportunity arose for me to select a project as part of a leadership program, my mentor Julie and I agreed to the Dominica Oral History project. DOH will interview anyone willing to share their experience because everyone has a story that needs to be heard.
When I visited my family in Canada in 2019, I met Major Twistleton (Twist) St. Rose Bertrand. He accepted Dominica’s Walk of Fame award from the Dominica Arts Culture organization in Toronto. When it was announced was made that Mr Bertrand was a World War II veteran, I had to document his story. A few months later, I returned to Toronto to interview Mr Bertrand. The Dominica Oral History project had finally started.
The Dominica Oral History Project is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and disseminating the oral histories of Dominicans living on the island and in the diaspora.
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