Interview with Althea (Vicki) Silvera

Interview with Althea (Vicki) Silvera, Archives and Special Collections Department Head at Florida International University. She was born in Jamaica and moved to the United States to attend college at the age of 18. Althea believes herself to be heavily influenced by her father and grandfather who were resilient and great story tellers. She majored in history and minored in education and initially planned to become a teacher, but after college she went back to Jamaica and started her first job at the National Archives. She worked there for six years, before she was offered a position at UCLA, where she worked four years on the Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project. After moving to Miami, she initially taught Caribbean literature at FIU before becoming the Head of Special Collections and University Archivist. Althea is responsible for the tremendous growth of the Caribbean collection and special collections at FIU.