Roland Emerson Roebuck spoke about his extended family history and ethnic background, which included Puerto Rican and Dominican ancestry. Roebuck also spoke about the neighborhood in Puerto Rico where he grew up, childhood activities and games, the importance of religion in the family, the disciplinarian of the family and in the community, and community, cultural, and family values in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Note, Roebuck was born in Bronx, New York.
Roebuck explained the caste system in the Virgin Islands; race, color, and racism in Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the United States; his distaste for the United States because of US treatment of Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands; and he and his wife moved to Washington, DC to attend school in 1974. He also spoke about his college experience in St. Thomas, and his experience in the United States Air Force, particularly being stationed in Okinawa and Vietnam.
Roebuck explained how the community changed since his arrival in Washington, DC; and described interactions with and among the Caribbean, Afro-American, Latino, and Afro-Latino communities. Specifically, he talked about challenges Salvadorans face; how a police interaction affected race relations; racial problems within the Latino community; relationships between Afro-Americans and Afro-Latinos; the importance of understanding cultural differences and not faking integration; the massive migration of Puerto Ricans to mainland United States in 1930s and 40s, and their experience and community; and the origin of the "Afro-Latino".
Roebuck also explained the bilingual and monolingual approaches to language; and how the values and sentiments of the newly elected Republican administration in Puerto Rico do not align with the majority of Puerto Ricans. He also spoke of the effects and pressure of assimilation and loss of culture experienced by Puerto Ricans and Virgin Islanders when they travel or move to the mainland of the United States.
Interview is in English. Digital audio files include white noise and static, and some sound distortion during portions of the interview. Overall, the interviewee's voice is intelligible for the most part.
General:
Associated documentation, including partial transcripts, for this interview is available in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives. The textual transcripts are not verbatim of the audio recordings.
Title created by ACMA staff using text written on sound cassette, contents of audio recording, textual transcript, and/or associated archival documentation.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
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.
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
This collection consists of duplicate microfilm of individual aircraft records for the United States Air Force (USAF). The microfilm covers aircraft owned by the US Army Air Service, Army Air Corps, Army Air Forces, USAF, and the National Guard starting in July of 1923 and including those dropped from the active inventory before June 30, 1955. (Master films are held by the Air Force Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, AL.) Each record card consists of a complete record of aircraft transfers (duty locations) from acceptance until retirement. Duty locations do not include unit, only theater/air base.
Scope and Contents:
Beginning in 1951, the USAF began microfilming the IARCs for retired aircraft. The first group filmed were aircraft retired as of May 1951 (119 rolls of 16mm microfilm), with additional sections including retirements through September 1952 and records "out of file" (not present in the retired aircraft file) in May 1951 (6 rolls) and retirements through May 1953 and records "out of file" in September 1952 (3 rolls). In 1971 the USAF microfilmed the records through 1954 for aircraft not retired by May 1953 (approximately 70 rolls) and all active aircraft from 1955 through 1964 (89 rolls). Later these various film series were designated by the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA; Maxwell AFB, AL), which maintains the original records, as ACR (May 1951 retirements), OA (out-of-file records from May 1951, retirements through September 1952 and May 1953), AC (aircraft active as of August 1954), and ACA (1955-1964 records).
Records were organized by military serial number, although some records were missorted and therefore filmed out of order. The project only encompassed the main IARC files and as a result the records maintained by the 15th SCU were filmed only in a few rare cases. Similarly the records maintained by overseas SCUs were not filmed. Thus the IARC records for wartime aircraft, particularly those transferred out of the Continental United States, remain incomplete.
The NASM holdings of these records consists of duplicate copies of the ACR and OA series of films only, comprising 128 rolls of microfilm. NASM rolls are identified consistent with the AFHRA designation scheme. The following listing gives the roll identification (ACR- or OA- number), the serial number range, and any special notes relating to the particular roll. The note "NASM M###" gives the roll identification assigned by the National Air and Space Museum in the 1960s when all microfilm in the NASM collection was sequentially numbered regardless of collection; these numbers are included for historical purposes and are cross-referenced in M-number order in Appendix 1 (page 8).
For access to the AC and ACA series, contact the Air Force Historical Research Agency at:
Air Force Historical Research Agency, 1600 Chennault Circle, Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into the following series:
Series I: Records for aircraft retired from USAF service through May 1951
Series II: Records for aircraft retired from USAF service through May 1951 (Out of file records)
Series III: Records for aircraft retired from USAF service May 1951 through September 1952
Series IV: Records for aircraft retired from USAF service September 1952 through May 1953
The NASM holdings of these records consists of duplicate copies of the ACR and OA series of films only, comprising 128 rolls of microfilm. NASM rolls are identified consistent with the AFHRA designation scheme. The follow listing gives the roll identification (ACR- or OA- number), the serial number range, and any special notes relating to the particular roll. The note "NASM M###" gives the roll identification assigned by the National Air and Space Museum in the 1960s when all microfilm in the NASM collection was sequentially numbered regardless of collection; these numbers are included for historical purposes and are cross-referenced in container listing notes.
Biographical/Historical note:
The United States Air Force and its predecessors1 have maintained a variety of records relating to the aircraft operated by the service. Beginning in 1923, the Air Service maintained individual records for each aircraft added to the inventory listing location and activity from its acceptance by the service until its retirement from the inventory. Such records have had a number of official names --Aircraft Master Record, Individual Aircraft Record Card (IARC), etc. --but are most commonly called "Aircraft History Cards." Originally, these records were manually compiled from unit inventories, morning reports, and so on, but the increased use of automated systems in the 1940s allowed automatic compilation and machine printing of the IARC entries after 1940.
IARCs do not record the entire history and activity of an individual aircraft. They do not include information about missions or crews, nor do they record exact locations or manners of loss. Rather, they serve as a compilation of the locations, transfers, and "controlling activity" (the unit responsible for reporting the aircraft) of the aircraft at a set time. The exact type of information and its manner of presentation changes over time and can be best described in chronological groups:
through c.1940
This period actually covers a variety of record card styles, but the data is hand-written or typed. The information follows the printed columns on the card. The information generally consists of reporting location, inventory date (month and fiscal year2), and flying time (both total and during the inventory period). The reporting activity is generally the base, rather than the unit. Transfers between bases are included as separate listings which include the authority for the transfer.
c.1940 --November 1942
During this period the USAAF switched to the use of electronic accounting machine (EAM) technology for inventory reporting and this allowed the automated compilation and printing of IARC data. The data and card presentation remains constant from the forms in use before the change, but the cards are machine printed, rather than hand written. Some data is abbreviated; location, for example, is given by a seven-character abbreviation.
November 1942 --April 1944
At the end of 1942 the responsibility for maintaining the inventory and individual aircraft status information was shifted from Headquarters, Air Materiel Command to one of several Statistical Control Units (SCU) within the Continental United States (CONUS) or overseas. IARCs were still prepared as before for newly-purchased aircraft and added to the main IARC file to track each aircraft from the factory to its initial assignment within CONUS or to an overseas shipping destination. The 15th SCU was responsible for tracking aircraft inventory and status information for aircraft within the CONUS and developed its own form for recording this data. The 15th SCU forms radically changed the data presentation --flying time was no longer recorded, some unit information was recorded for the first time, and location either appears as the abbreviations used previously or as a four-character shipping destination code. No effort was made to transfer 15th SCU data to the IARC master file, so that no activity was recorded on IARC cards during this period. Further, the inventory records on aircraft outside of the CONUS were maintained by SCUs in theater; as a result the entries on IARCs end with their transfer overseas, save for the final entry showing their removal from the inventory or until they returned to a CONUS location.
April 1944 --September 1949
At the beginning of this period, entries again appear on the main IARCs, although the concentration on CONUS-based aircraft continued until after the end of World War II. There are no records for aircraft transferred overseas once they leave the CONUS until they are dropped from the inventory, return to the United States, or until the reporting requirements changed after the end of the war. During this period the entries recorded a change in the status of the aircraft --either a transfer of station or a change in the usage of the aircraft. Entries record the reporting and other involved station and unit and the type, nature, and date of the change. The exact presentation of the data varies slightly over the period but generally involves a number of codes used to speed transmission of the data.
September 1949 and subsequent
Beginning September 1949, IARCs entries were printed in batches, giving rise to groups of entries followed by a "bookkeeping" line indicating the serial number and number of entries printed. The data presentation for each entry remains similar to the entries from the previous period.
During the machine-printed period (from 1940 on) IARC entries become more and more difficult to understand due to the increasing data density and the use of one- or two-character codes for a variety of information. The Museum staff is currently preparing a guide to understanding the USAF IARC, which will treat the various code groups and data presentations in greater depth.
1 Aviation Section, United States Army Signal Corps (1914-1918); United States Army Air Service (USAAS; 1918-1926); United States Army Air Corps (USAAC; 1926-1941); United States Army Air Forces (USAAF; 1941-1947); United States Air Force (USAF; 1947- )
2 Until 1976 the government fiscal year (FY) ran 1 July --30 June. Thus FY1941 ran 1 July 1940 through 30 June 1941.
Provenance:
Dept. of the Air Force, Transfer, unknown, XXXX-0461.
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquisition made possible through partial Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
The Goddamned Reserves -- Barnacle Bill, the pilot -- Fighter pilot's lament -- I wanted wings -- The poor co-pilot -- Cigareets and sake --Wreck of the old Ninety-seven -- Let's have a party -- Save a fighter pilot's ass -- Come and join the Air Force -- Give me Operations -- Itazuke Tower --Sidi Slimane -- Army Air Force heaven -- Bless 'em all -- Glory flying regulations.
Track Information:
101 Save a Fighter Pilot's Ass.
102 Come and Join the Air Force.
103 Give Me Operations.
104 Itazuke Tower.
105 Sidi Slimane.
106 Army Air Force Heaven.
107 Bless 'Em All.
108 Glory Flying Regulations.
201 The Goddamned Reserves.
202 Barnicle Bill the Pilot.
203 Fighter Pilot's Lament.
204 I Wanted Wings.
205 The Poor Co-Pilot.
206 Cigarettes and Sake.
207 The Wreck of the Old 97.
208 Let's Have a Party.
Local Numbers:
FW-ASCH-LP-0645
Elektra.168
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
New York Elektra 1961
General:
Program notes by Oscar Brand on container; lyrics (12 p.) inserted. Performer(s): Humorous songs; Oscar Brand, assisted by the Roger Wilco Four.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Introduction - Orientation - Physical training chants - Suspended harness - Mock door - Wind machine - Mock tower - Swing landing training - 250 ft. tower - Malfunction lecture - Pre jump lecture - Interview before jump - Jump from plane - Interview after jump - Graduation.
Local Numbers:
FW-ASCH-LP-0858
Gold Star.540
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
Gold Star 1960
General:
Field recording of airborne training and jumps, made at Ft. Benning, Ga.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
