ANTHOLOGY OF BOOTY TRANSCRIPT Oral History Interview with Ebony Dumas Conducted by Miriam Zoila Pérez for the DC Oral History Collaborative June 11, 2019 Two hours and 19 minutes Ebony’s Home in Edgewood/Brookland NE DC Washington, DC Transcribed by rev.com and Ebony Dumas Biographical Information: Ebony Dumas is an urban planner, a long-time DJ as part of Anthology of Booty and as a solo artist. Description of interview: Ebony Dumas' childhood in Tulsa, OK, her connection to music, her life experience in D.C., and her experience as a founding member of Anthology Booty. Ebony_edited (Completed 08/31/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 1 of 63 Interviewer: 00:00:02 All right, so we are recording. I'm Miriam Zoila Pérez and I'm interviewing Ebony. Ebony, how do you say your last name? Ebony Dumas: 00:00:16 It kind of depends on where I am. In Oklahoma, it’s Dumas and generally in DC it's Dumas. Interviewer: 00:00:22 Dumas. Ebony Dumas: 00:00:23 Mm-hmm (affirmative). Interviewer: 00:00:23 Is that what you prefer? Ebony Dumas: 00:00:25 I really don't care. Interviewer: 00:00:25 Okay. Ebony Dumas: 00:00:26 But thanks for asking. Interviewer: 00:00:27 You're welcome. I'm going to do that over. My name is Miriam Zoila Pérez and I'm interviewing Ebony Dumas and today is June 11th, 2019 and we're in Ebony's ... Ebony Dumas: 00:00:42 Den. Interviewer: 00:00:44 Den, I like that, Ebony's den, in Northwest Washington, DC. Ebony Dumas: 00:00:48 Northeast. Interviewer: 00:00:49 Oh God. Yeah. Northeast. I don't know where I live. We are in Ebony's den in Northeast Washington, DC Ebony is going to be talking about their life and their experience in DC, her life and experience in DC, but also experience with being part of Anthology Booty, The DJ Collective. What pronouns do you use, Ebony? Ebony Dumas: 00:01:07 She / her. Interviewer: 00:01:08 Awesome. All right, well thank you for doing this. I mean, it's your project. Why don't we start with just a little bit about kind of your childhood. Where were you born and raised? What was that like? Ebony Dumas: 00:01:23 Yeah. I am not a native Washingtonian. I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was born February 13th, 1983 in a lovely hospital where my mom actually worked for about 15, 20 years growing up in Oklahoma. I lived in Tulsa all the way until I was 18 years old, and then after I graduated I left Tulsa, but I definitely have an affinity to Oklahoma, definitely toward Oklahoma. A lot of my family is still there. My dad, my grandmother, lots of aunts Ebony_edited (Completed 08/31/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 2 of 63 and uncles and cousins. So yeah, it was a great place to grow up. Very different from DC and part of my growing up there was in Tulsa, which is essentially a city, we'll call it a city, they're highways there, but there's also open fields in the north side of town where most of the black people live. You're not surprised to see horses walking around. And so it was like this interesting kind of juxtaposition of city and rural. Ebony Dumas: 00:02:47 But my dad is a preacher and the church that we grew up in was about 50 minutes north of Tulsa. And so once, sometimes twice a week, we drive 50 minutes north of Tulsa to Muskogee, Oklahoma and that was a large part of my growing up as well, the church folks, and that was more of a rural area and so I had a little bit of city, a little bit of rural growing up. Interviewer: 00:03:16 Right. What denomination is your dad's church? Ebony Dumas: 00:03:18 Baptist. Interviewer: 00:03:19 Baptist. Ebony Dumas: 00:03:19 Yeah. Interviewer: 00:03:20 And how long has he been the minister? Is that the ... Ebony Dumas: 00:03:23 Mm-hmm (affirmative). Interviewer: 00:03:24 The minister there? Ebony Dumas: 00:03:25 He's been the preacher at Dean's Chapel Baptist Church for 37 years. Interviewer: 00:03:31 Wow. So your whole life. Ebony Dumas: 00:03:32 Yeah, my whole life. He started one year before I was born and so that's pretty much everything that my whole life has spent growing up there. The congregation petitioned to have a street named after him there, and so that was pretty cool to go back to Tulsa and stay there for a few days, but then make the drive to Muskogee to have a street unveiled with my last name on it. Interviewer: 00:04:03 That's amazing. So did you grow up religious? Ebony Dumas: 00:04:07 Yeah. Yeah, definitely grew up religious. There's a large part of how I grew up in the church that feels very similar to DJ work that I do now, and like creating a space for community together, something that's regular that people can look forward to and kind of plan around. And yeah, the church that I grew up in was Ebony_edited (Completed 08/31/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 3 of 63 pretty small. I'd say it was probably like 60 people in the congregation, 25, 30 on any particular week. Interviewer: 00:04:45 That's a good turnout if you get half of the people. Ebony Dumas: 00:04:47 Yeah, true. I guess when you're thinking about percentages. That's a good percentage. Interviewer: 00:04:51 Percentages. Yeah, wow, 60 people. Did he get assigned there by the Baptist leadership or was he connected before he became the minister? Ebony Dumas: 00:04:59 No, he wasn't assigned. And so talking to him, like once I got a little bit older and was in the job world, it seems like at least in the circles that he runs in, it's more of like you apply, just like a general job application. I think maybe Catholic priests are moreso assigned, or maybe even some [inaudible 00:05:24], but the way that he's been rolling is I think you have to apply, which means not only talking to the board of the church, but also giving a sermon and then kind of get judged. So I guess he was judged well- Interviewer: 00:05:42 Right. By all 60 people. Ebony Dumas: 00:05:44 Well maybe 65. Interviewer: 00:05:44 Yeah. Okay. There we go. There we go. Wow. So did you feel like all of those people knew you really well and knew your family really well since it's such an intimate community? Ebony Dumas: 00:05:57 Yeah, absolutely. I was definitely a known as Dawn Ebony, so my first name is Dawn, D-A-W-N. Interviewer: 00:06:06 I did not know that. Ebony Dumas: 00:06:08 Yeah. Not many people know that about me. Interviewer: 00:06:09 Yeah. Got it. When did you start going by Ebony? Ebony Dumas: 00:06:13 I think most of my life. Interviewer: 00:06:14 Okay. Ebony Dumas: 00:06:15 Yeah. I believe my aunt, my mom's one sister, suggested Ebony as my name, and then I guess it could have been a conflict of interest to have two Dons in the house in Oklahoma. Our accents don't really allow for much distinction between Don and Dawn. Ebony_edited (Completed 08/31/19) Transcript by Rev.com Page 4 of 63 Interviewer: 00:06:38 Right. Yeah. Did your family have roots in Oklahoma before your parents? Do you know how long they've been there? Ebony Dumas: 00:06:48 Yeah. There's this folder I found from high school on my recent trip back to Oklahoma and it had the story of a number of generations before me. I guess this was some research I did in probably senior, junior year in high school, and 1877 was the first person that I was able to trace at that time. I think it was from like talking to my grandmother who then remembered and I guess knew and spent some time with her grandparents, and so I forget his name, but maybe Julius. Yeah, that's a good name. Julius Cato. Interviewer: 00:07:34 That is a good name. Ebony Dumas: 00:07:34 But yeah, he raised cotton and did that whole thing in Oklahoma. That's my father's side. And then on my mother's side, the tree is a little bit more scattered just because she didn't really have much of a relationship with either of her parents. And so what we do know is Susie Walkingstick was her great, great grandmother. And so Cherokee was part of her bloodline, my bloodline, from that, but I don't know if they were in Oklahoma. I know my mother was born in Kansas City, I think Kansas City, Kansas, but there has been a long history of my family members there. Interviewer: 00:08:27 Got it. Got it. And so was your father's church had a lot of music? Ebony Dumas: 00:08:31 Yeah, yeah. Lots of music.