Emanuel, or Manuel, Lopes was Seattle, Washington’s first black resident. He came to Washington Territory and this small frontier town of fewer than 180 non-indigenous residents in 1858, seven years after its founding. He opened a restaurant and barbershop, soon establishing himself as an independent … Read MoreEmanuel Lopes (1812-1895)
Afro-German politician, human rights activist, and scholar Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana was born in Bamako, Mali, but grew up in Dakar, Senegal, the daughter of a Cape Verdean mother, Dona Joaquina Semedo-Lopès, who was Christian, and a Guinean father who was Muslim. Her early experience with nationalities and religions greatly influenced the course of her life. A … Read MorePierrette Herzberger-Fofana (1949- )
Judge George Neves Leighton and his twin sister, Georgina, were born in New Bedford, Massachusetts on October 22, 1912, to Cape Verdean immigrants Antonio Neves Leitao and Anna Silva Garcia Leitao. His last name was changed,with his parents permission, to Leighton by an elementary school teacher who could not … Read MoreGeorge Neves Leighton (1912-2018)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Ambassador Joseph Monroe Segars was born in Hartsville, South Carolina on November 6, 1938. He remained with his aunt and uncle in South Carolina while his parents moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the Great Migration to the North in search … Read MoreJoseph Monroe Segars (1938–2014)
In 2011, Adrienne S. O’Neal, career Foreign Service officer with the rank of Minister Counselor, was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as ambassador to the Republic of Cabo Verde (or Cape Verde). O’Neal was born in Durham, North Carolina in 1954 to Samuel … Read MoreAdrienne S. O’Neal (1954- )
Roger D. Pierce, U.S. Ambassador to Cape Verde, was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Pierce earned his B.A. degree in Spanish Language and Latin American Studies at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. He received his M.A. in Latin American Literature at the University … Read MoreRoger Dwayne Pierce (1951- )
Ambassador Charles Joseph Nelson was born in 1921 and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan. He was a 1942 graduate of Lincoln University, a historically black college in Pennsylvania where his field of study was Public Administration and Political Science. Upon graduation, Nelson was drafted into … Read MoreCharles Joseph Nelson (1921-2011)
Tatiana Silva Braga Tavares is best known as the woman who was crowned Miss Belgium in 2005 and who represented Belgium in the Miss World competition in Sanya, China later that year. Silva was born in the Brussels suburb of Uccle on February 5, 1985. … Read MoreTatiana Silva (1985- )
Praia is the capital and largest city of the island nation Cape Verde, an archipelago approximately 400 miles west of Dakar, Senegal. The city has a population of 127,899 people and it is the home of over 90% of the nation’s population. Praia lies on … Read MorePraia, Cape Verde (1615- )
The schooner Clotilda is the last known United States slave ship to bring enslaved people from Africa to the United States. Constructed in 1855 by the Mobile, Alabama captain and shipbuilder William Foster, the Clotilda was originally intended for the “Texas trade.” It was eighty-six … Read MoreClotilda (Slave Ship)
