July will 'now and forever' be Cabo Verdean Heritage Month in New Bedford
By Gilda Geist
July 1, 2025 at 11:37 AM EDT
This Saturday, July 5 will mark 50 years of independence from Portugal for the country of Cabo Verde, an archipelago off the coast of West Africa with a large diaspora in southeastern Massachusetts.
This comes just as New Bedford kicks off its first-ever Cabo Verdean Heritage Month.
CAI’s Gilda Geist spoke with Candida Rose Baptista, who spearheaded the effort to make July Cabo Verdean Heritage Month in New Bedford.
Gilda Geist Candida, some people might know you from your work as a singer and a musical artist, so how did you get involved in making July Cabo Verdean Heritage Month in New Bedford?
Candida Rose Baptista I know people know me as a vocalist and a singer, but I'm also an educator. In 2017, I got a master's degree in transnational cultural and community studies. I did a lot of work in understanding my heritage, and that led me to do an artist in residency program at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. And one of the things that I had asked to do is to have the park sort of help me in bringing the different organizations of New Bedford—particularly Cape Verdean organizations—together to talk about the possibility of doing a Cabo Verde heritage month. We already have so much richness in what we already do within New Bedford. We have the Cape Verde Recognition Committee and recognition week. As we were approaching this 50th year of our independence, there's so much information, there's so much education, there are so many people that have done so many different things. How do you fit that all in a week? It's kind of impossible. How do we do a month? So I started talking to different people in these organizations, letters were going out, I was talking to city councilors, and all of these different things. And people were like, "Wow, that's a great idea." It was done as a way to really amplify what's already been happening.
GG For folks who aren't as familiar with the history, how has Cabo Verdean culture and diaspora helped shape the city of New Bedford, and the surrounding areas too, into what they are today?
CRB Cabo Verdeans have contributed in so many different ways. A lot of the people that started coming to the United States through New Bedford was through whaling and other seafaring jobs. So we contribute to the fabric of the city in terms of being hard workers, but we are [also] a people that find joy. There's this word that we have in Cape Verdean culture called morabeza. And we bring sort of the warmth and love of not only our country and our people, but we bring that no matter where we go. And so I believe that just the people that we are, [we're] wanting to help whatever communities that we're in. When we came here, we developed enclaves to help our own people as they were continuing to come in, but then that spread. It didn't just stay in these enclaves. We ended up spreading to Wareham, going into Rhode Island and Providence and then we've spread into Boston. Some people don't even realize that there's Cabo Verdean communities all across the United States.
GG In the context of this being the first Cabo Verdean Heritage Month for New Bedford, what does 50 years of independence for Cabo Verde mean for you?
CRB It's an amazing feat that such a small country under our revolutionary, Amílcar Cabral—God rest his soul, and God rest those who really fought for our independence—to think that such a small country can be a force in showing what democracy can be about, I think that for me personally, there's a pride in like, yeah, we might be small, but we're really mighty. And the continued resilience that comes from our people, from the time of Cabo Verde's inception back in the mid-1400s to now. And then to be able to get our independence from Portugal in 1975, and then be able to continue with that and be a beacon for others to show that it can be done. You don't have to be big, you just have to be mighty, you just have to be resilient. Fifty years, half a century, that's a big deal.
GG What is New Bedford's first ever Cabo Verdean Heritage Month going to look like?
CRB We have a calendar that we have connected with Exploring New Bedford. You put in "Cabo Verdean culture" and all of the things that are happening for the rest of the month will come up and you can pick and choose all the different things that you want to do.
This comes just as New Bedford kicks off its first-ever Cabo Verdean Heritage Month.
CAI’s Gilda Geist spoke with Candida Rose Baptista, who spearheaded the effort to make July Cabo Verdean Heritage Month in New Bedford.
Gilda Geist Candida, some people might know you from your work as a singer and a musical artist, so how did you get involved in making July Cabo Verdean Heritage Month in New Bedford?
Candida Rose Baptista I know people know me as a vocalist and a singer, but I'm also an educator. In 2017, I got a master's degree in transnational cultural and community studies. I did a lot of work in understanding my heritage, and that led me to do an artist in residency program at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. And one of the things that I had asked to do is to have the park sort of help me in bringing the different organizations of New Bedford—particularly Cape Verdean organizations—together to talk about the possibility of doing a Cabo Verde heritage month. We already have so much richness in what we already do within New Bedford. We have the Cape Verde Recognition Committee and recognition week. As we were approaching this 50th year of our independence, there's so much information, there's so much education, there are so many people that have done so many different things. How do you fit that all in a week? It's kind of impossible. How do we do a month? So I started talking to different people in these organizations, letters were going out, I was talking to city councilors, and all of these different things. And people were like, "Wow, that's a great idea." It was done as a way to really amplify what's already been happening.
GG For folks who aren't as familiar with the history, how has Cabo Verdean culture and diaspora helped shape the city of New Bedford, and the surrounding areas too, into what they are today?
CRB Cabo Verdeans have contributed in so many different ways. A lot of the people that started coming to the United States through New Bedford was through whaling and other seafaring jobs. So we contribute to the fabric of the city in terms of being hard workers, but we are [also] a people that find joy. There's this word that we have in Cape Verdean culture called morabeza. And we bring sort of the warmth and love of not only our country and our people, but we bring that no matter where we go. And so I believe that just the people that we are, [we're] wanting to help whatever communities that we're in. When we came here, we developed enclaves to help our own people as they were continuing to come in, but then that spread. It didn't just stay in these enclaves. We ended up spreading to Wareham, going into Rhode Island and Providence and then we've spread into Boston. Some people don't even realize that there's Cabo Verdean communities all across the United States.
GG In the context of this being the first Cabo Verdean Heritage Month for New Bedford, what does 50 years of independence for Cabo Verde mean for you?
CRB It's an amazing feat that such a small country under our revolutionary, Amílcar Cabral—God rest his soul, and God rest those who really fought for our independence—to think that such a small country can be a force in showing what democracy can be about, I think that for me personally, there's a pride in like, yeah, we might be small, but we're really mighty. And the continued resilience that comes from our people, from the time of Cabo Verde's inception back in the mid-1400s to now. And then to be able to get our independence from Portugal in 1975, and then be able to continue with that and be a beacon for others to show that it can be done. You don't have to be big, you just have to be mighty, you just have to be resilient. Fifty years, half a century, that's a big deal.
GG What is New Bedford's first ever Cabo Verdean Heritage Month going to look like?
CRB We have a calendar that we have connected with Exploring New Bedford. You put in "Cabo Verdean culture" and all of the things that are happening for the rest of the month will come up and you can pick and choose all the different things that you want to do.