Oral history interview with Addie Green

Addie Green – owner, manager, and chef of The Islander, a restaurant located on Columbia Road in northwest Washington, DC – explained the boundaries of the Adams Morgan neighborhood. She talked in detail about her restaurant The Islander, her migration from Trinidad to England to the United States, her love for her country and childhood memories in Trinidad, her leadership in building the Caribbean community in the Washington, DC area, her mother's migration to and work in the United States, and the importance of cultural authenticity when organizing and running events, particularly carnivals and festivals. Note, Addie Green is also known as Adeletha "Addie" Green. Green explained The Islander specializes in Trinidadian cuisine but also cooks and serves foods from other Caribbean islands; the founding of the restaurant in 1978 and how the menu evolved; and she visits the islands to learn about the food and how to cook the food before she prepares it in her restaurant. She talked about the reviews she and The Islander have received from the press, including The Washington Post; and catering for government agencies, events, and festivals, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Caribbean Festival Day. Green talked about her experience traveling on a Norwegian ship to England, attending school in England, and marrying her American husband and birthing her first child in England. She explained why did not want to migrate to the United States; that racial differences, discrimination, and bias did not register for her until she arrived in the United States; her experience working in the United States; how and why she got involved in the food and restaurant industry; and her husband's reaction to her working outside of the house. Green also talked about cultural organizations, including the Trinidad-Tobago Association, Jamaican National, and West Indian American Cultural Organization; how and why the Caribbean community has changed in Washington, DC; carnival culture in Trinidad and how it differs from carnivals and festivals in the United States; and Trinidadian athletic societies represented in Washington DC area. Interview is in English. Digital audio files include loud music and talking in background. Interviewee's voice is intelligible for the most part; interviewer's voice is soft and difficult to hear at times.