For a segment of African Americans, there is another independence day that is rarely acknowledged outside of southern New England: the independence of the Cape Verde Islands that was proclaimed July 5, 1975.
From the late 1600s through July 5, 1975, the Cape Verde Islands (400 miles off the coast of West Africa) had been a colony of Portugal. From these islands emerged a population of Africans. Many were mixed with the Portuguese who migrated to different parts of Europe and North America. Many Cape Verdeans migrated to the U.S. in the 19th century, arriving as whalers and fisherman, settling in southern New England.
Relations between Cape Verdeans and other African Americans were complicated until the 1960s, due to historical differences between the two populations. Whereas most African Americans came involuntarily to the U.S. as slaves, Cape Verdeans came voluntarily.
Cape Verdeans were raised in the Portuguese colonial system that promoted the illusion that the Cape Verdeans were Portuguese, while for most African Americans Cape Verdeans were simply black people who had different sounding names.
For many Cape Verdeans, at least until the time of both the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the Cape Verdean (and Guinea-Bissau) struggle for independence against Portugal, there was little interest in identifying with the descendents of slaves.
The military side of the struggle for the independence of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands began in 1961 under the leadership of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, whose principal leader was the near legendary Amilcar Cabral. It not only changed the consciousness of the people in Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands, but also changed the consciousness of much of the Cape Verdean population in the U.S.
It was in that struggle that the fight to affirm a progressive African identity unfolded. This struggle intersected with the African-American struggle for human rights.
Cape Verdeans, much like West Indians beginning in the early 20th century, helped to shape and reshape what it meant to be African-American. Yet for many non-Cape Verdeans, the existence of individuals such as the renowned musician Horace Silver, the R&B/pop group Tavares, the late rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes or baseball player and manager Davey Lopes is not seen as a particular contribution by a population which fused with other sections of what we know as Black America over nearly 200 years. They are too often seen as just other black folks … with different sounding names.
So, this independence day, think about the “other” independence—that of Cape Verde. Also take this as a moment to acknowledge the contributions to Black America by one very important part of our demographic spectrum: Cape Verdean-Americans.