Cape Verdean Americans

Cape Verdean American History and Culture

As far as recorded U.S. history goes, Cape Verdeans first settled as free people in mid-19th-century America near Boston. This is mostly because New England whaling ships often had Cape Verde on their routes. Many Cape Verdeans worked on [Page 438]whaling ships until the industry declined in the early 20th century, ensuring that Cape Verdean Americans became known for crafts peculiar to whaling such as scrimshaw, wood carving, and ship building.

A family, including two boys 8 and 9 years of age, using wooden scoops to harvest cranberries in a bog near Wareham, Massachusetts, around September 1911. The family's Portuguese surname of Fernande suggests that they were of Cape Verdean origin. Many Cape Verdeans worked in the cranberry industry on Cape Cod in the early 20th century.

The cranberry industry in the United States is on the peninsula of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The work is arduous and especially in the past required many workers to harvest in the cranberry bogs; many Cape Verdeans therefore settled in New England to join that industry and the whaling industry. These two migratory forces meant that the largest concentration of Cape Verdean Americans originally settled in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Cape Verdean Americans have always defied racial norms, which in the United States especially made for the perception of a maverick sensibility as a group culture. The island of Cape Verde had a very diverse, mobile culture that defied the divisions into black or white culture that the United States had historically. Most Cape Verdeans are of mixed race. Originally, the islands were populated by the Portuguese, who then imported slaves from Africa, particularly from nearby Senegal. These groups mixed with Spanish and Italian sailors, Portuguese Jewish refugees, and various European, Chinese, American, and Brazilian settlers. This rich mix of cultures made for a much more varied mestiço ethnic identity.

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