Oral history interview with Elijah Russell, 2019 June 26

This oral history interview with Elijah Russell was conducted by Sankar Raman and Allison Merkel on June 26, 2019. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States.

In this interview, Russell discusses his family background and early life in Hamburg, Germany, including the music careers of his parents, and the reasons he and his mother moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2005. He talks about growing up with a famous father, about writing music, and about his education in Germany and Beaverton. He shares his experiences as a Black person in both Germany and Portland, and speaks at length about starting a school club called Kids of Color. He talks about writing songs, plays some of his music, and discusses his musical ambitions. He talks about his plans for college, about sharing music with his father, and about his identity. He closes the interview by discussing plans for the future.