Oral history interview with Kobina Ansah
Object Details
- Scope and Contents
- Kobina Ansah spoke about his large family, many with a variety of artistic inclinations; his educational experience; his early jobs in radio and film industries in Ghana; why he migrated to the United States; an encounter with the police not long after he arrived in Washington, DC; and his expectations about the United States prior to arriving in the US. Ansah spoke about why he began silkscreen printing and making tee shirts; expressing his creative and writing ideas, including political statements, on tee shirts; limiting his business to the African market; specific statements, related to African culture and what is happening in Africa, written on his tee shirts; contract work for Ghanaian and African groups; his relationship with customers; and the quality of his work. Ansah explained the popularity of tee shirts in Ghana; the reaction of Ghanaians in Ghana to his tee shirts; his design and screen printing process, in detail; why he wants to return to the film industry in some capacity; and the conditions that would need to change for him to return to Ghana. He expressed his thoughts about Ghanaian and African organizations and institutions in the Washington, DC; and why Ghanaians leave Ghana. Ansah spoke about the film industry in Ghana and why African films are not being shown in western countries; the concerns Ghanaians have about their family members living in Washington, DC because of the violence; his perception of the violence; and his thoughts about guns and weapons. Interview is in English. Digital audio files include white noise and static. Interviewee's voice is intelligible.
- Date
- 1992 December 08
- Extent
- 2 Digital files
- 1 Sound cassette
- Type
- Archival materials
- Digital files
- Sound cassettes
- Occupation
- Artists
- Serigraphers
- Topic
- Businesspeople
- Emigration and immigration
- Serigraphy
- T-shirts
- Political art
- Motion picture industry
- Associations, institutions, etc.
- Violence
- Guns
- Interviews
- Place
- Ghana
- Africa
- Washington (D.C.)
- United States
- Culture
- Ghanaians
- Africans
- 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.
- Citation
- Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
- 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.
