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Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collection, 2015.196.368.1, Connecticut Historical S ...
Cape Verdean Prime Minister’s Visit to Norwich
Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collection, 2015.196.368.1, Connecticut Historical Society, Copyright Undetermined

Cape Verdean Prime Minister’s Visit to Norwich

Subject (Cape Verdean)
Subject (Cape Verdean)
Subject (Cape Verdean)
Subject (Cape Verdean)
Subject (Cape Verdean)
Subject (Cape Verdean)
Photographer (Cape Verdean)
Date2007 September 23
Mediumborn digital images
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.368.1-.31
DescriptionPhotographs from an event at the Norwich Free Academy during the Cape Verdean Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves (he is now President of Cabo Verde) visit to Norwich in 2007. Photos taken by Roberta Vincent.

2015.196.368.1: Image showing Jonathan Justiniano-Ruiz, Norwich Free Academy Class of 2008 and Soely Barros, Norwich Free Academy Class of 2009 seated on stage, looking over their remarks. The Cape Verdean flag is visible.

2015.196.368.2: Image showing several people preparing for event on stage, including (seated) Jonathan Justiniano-Ruiz, Soely Barros, and Belmiro "Junie" Rodrigues.

2015.196.368.3: Image showing Jonathan Justiniano-Ruiz, Norwich Free Academy Class '08 and Soely Barros, Norwich Free Academy Class of 2009 standing at the Norwich Free Academy podium.

2015.196.368.4: Image showing the Prime Minister's cabinet seated onstage (left to right): is former Ambassador of Cape Verde in Washington, D.C, Fatima Veiga; former Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves (he is now President of Cabo Verde); his interpreter, Adelaide Lima; next to her is former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Victor Borges; next to him is former General Consulate, Maria de Jesus Mascarenhas, and last in line is Cristalina Pereira, coordinator of PAICV-USA.

2015.196.368.5: Image showing Father Russell Kennedy of St. Mary's Church Norwich at the podium.

2015.196.368.6: Image showing City Councilman John Crooks and Norwich Mayor Benjamin Lathrop speaking.

2015.196.368.7: Image showing Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves standing on stage.

2015.196.368.8: Image showing Belmiro "Junie" Rodrigues speaking at podium.

2015.196.368.9: Image showing an unidentified person standing at the podium.

2015.196.368.10: Image showing Angelina (Santos) Gardner speaking at the podium, introducing her dance group Estrellas.

2015.196.368.11-.12: Images showing dance group Estrellas from Norwich Free Academy and the Cape Verdean Santiago Society, dancing on stage, and the Prime Minister is seated in the background.

2015.196.368.13-.16: Images showing Maria Rodrigues, guest mentor to Estrellas, dancing onstage. Image (.13) is Brenda DelGado.

2015.196.368.17: Image showing musicians Joao Cerilo playing accordion, and Eurico Semedo playing ferinho, guest mentors to Estrellas, performing onstage.

2015.196.368.18: Image showing Ben Goldman, of Fox 61 News, speaking into the microphone.

2015.196.368.19: Image showing the Prime Minister's cabinet seated onstage. Congressman Alberto Alves is on the left.

2015.196.368.20: Image showing Brenda DelGado speaking at the podium.

2015.196.368.21: Image showing members of the Prime Minister's cabinet, Fatima Veiga and Maria de Jesus Mascarenhas at the podium.

2015.196.368.22: Image showing an unidentified person standing at the podium.

2015.196.368.23: Image showing Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves at the podium.

2015.196.368.24-.27: Images showing Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves speaking, with his interpreter and dignitaries seated onstage.

2015.196.368.28: Image showing Alfred Gonsalves speaking at the podium.

2015.196.368.29: Image showing Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves and Alfred Gonsalves at the podium.

2015.196.368.30: Image showing Roberta Vincent with Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves.

2015.196.368.31: Image showing Maria Rodrigues with Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves.
NotesSubject Note for Norwich Cape Verdean Community: The Cape Verdean Santiago Society Inc., a Norwich-based social and cultural organization incorporated on June 6, 1939, was housed in a building at 84 Talman Street in the heart of the Norwich Cape Verdean community. Norwich today is home to more than 1,500 Cape Verdeans, descendants of immigrants from the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa as well as newcomers from the islands. The population continues to grow as Cape Verdean-Americans save money to bring their families from the islands in order to provide a prosperous life for them in America. Many older Cape Verdeans and the new arrivals speak the language Krioulu, a blend of African and Portuguese dialects. Norwich Free Academy has several Cape Verdean students attending.

Retired whalers, stone masons, and builders from the islands of Fogo, Brava, and Sao Nicolau settled in Norwich in the late 19th and early 20th century. Census records show that many of these immigrants lived in neighborhoods close to the Norwich harbor and were employed as coal shovelers for railroad and steamship companies as well as continuing their original occupations.

The main Cape Verdean neighborhood in Norwich developed on the hilly east side, along Talman Street, anchored by the social club, and continued through the Laurel Hill area to Sunnyside Avenue. The close-knit community maintained traditional ties of kinship and reciprocity. The Santiago Society long served as a focal point for the community, offering social and economic assistance. Named after the island of Santiago, whose city Praia is the capital of Cape Verde, the Norwich Society developed out of the local branch of a mutual aid association in Providence. In 1939, the Santiago Society established the social club on Talman Street and organized activities every weekend, providing a place of contact where new arrivals could mix with other Cape Verdeans, giving them a sense of belonging to a community and helping to ease their homesickness. The social club also hosted wedding receptions, baby showers, fund raising events, and other celebrations. Members would engage in the traditional games of bisca and ouril and share stories. A deeply religious group, Cape Verdeans often held traditional wakes at the Club. Women would chant the choroguiza, crying and talking about the deceased in communal mourning. Afterwards members distributed food to the bereaved family. Generations of Norwich Cape Verdeans made the Club the heart of their community, but unfortunately the Club burned down on January 23, 2007, and has disbanded.

Cape Verdeans everywhere have a gift for music, and in Norwich there have been two popular bands playing Cape Verdean and American styles of music: the Santos Brothers Band and the Delgado band. Descendants of these families still live in the area today. Two Cape Verdean families in Norwich produced popular bands. The Santos Brothers - Abel, Matthew, Antonio Sr., and José, along with their sister Lena on vocals - played Cape Verdean dance music on the radio in Norwich in 1947 and at clubs and dances all over New England until the mid-1970s. When their parents hosted kitchen dances, the brothers watched the grownups to learn how to play the viola, mandolin, and guitar. They have passed their musical ability onto the next generation - Antonio Sr. has formed a band, The Santos Family Band, with son Antonio Jr. and daughters Wendy, Leona, and Lisa. They were inspired by the Delgados, a well-known quartet (later a sextet) who played Krioulo music together as boys starting in the late 1920s. (Some members of the Delgado family spell the name differently). Later with their sister Mary as singer, the group performed jazz, ragtime, and popular tunes at speakeasies and clubs, appearing with Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong, among other jazz greats.

Several Cape Verdean leaders have visited Norwich: General Consul Maria de Jesus Mascarenhas and Cape Verde Ambassador José Brito attended a celebration of the reconstruction of St. Anthony's Chapel held at the American Legion in Norwich on October 30, 2005. Cape Verde Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves and his delegation visited Norwich in 2007; a special reception in his honor was held by the community.

Starting in 2021, a team of Norwich Cape Verdeans and researchers have conducted a project with historian Rachel Carley to compile a detailed community history to research, document, and make accessible the rich history of Cape Verdeans who have settled in the Norwich area and who continue to be an important part of the community today. This project will also highlight the built environment that helped to shape Cape Verdean life in Norwich. For many members of ethnic communities, their traditions have deep roots in history and culture, and are an important source of cultural identity and knowledge. Former Santiago Society Board member Alfred H. Gonsalves states, “If our history is not documented, it will be lost forever. One of our main project activities will be to interview older Cape Verdeans who have a wonderful store of memories and knowledge, so that we can gather this information and pass it on to our young people.”


Biographical Note: Alfred (Freddie) Gonsalves, José Santos, and Belmiro (Junie) Rodrigues, Cape Verdean stonemasons, are members of three Cape Verdean families that have worked in this occupation for several generations in the Norwich area. They learned from their fathers in the course of working on masonry since their teens and have built successful businesses in southeastern Connecticut while serving important roles in the Cape Verdean community, most notably as president and past president of the Santiago Society, an active Cape Verdean cultural organization. Freddie designed and oversaw the reconstruction of St. Anthony’s Chapel, rescuing and re-siting this historic Norwich Cape Verdean landmark when it was threatened with demolition in 2004. Freddie won a Connecticut Historic Preservation award for this work in 2008, and has also received a Cape Verdean Hall of Fame award. Belmiro assisted the Cape Verdean youth dance group Estrellas directed by Angelina Santos, when they apprenticed to musician Joao Monteiro in 2005 under the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. José Santos and his brothers were members of the popular Cape Verdean music group The Santos Brothers.


Biographical Note: Roberta Delgado Vincent has been an advocate for the Cape Verdean community and the Delgado Family in her hometown of Norwich, Connecticut for decades. She spearheaded the successful campaign for the preservation and reconstruction of the Delgado Family Chapel, which until 2004 stood where it was originally built for over 75 years. Knowing that it was a historical landmark that could be threatened, Norwich architect Richard Sharpe submitted a nomination to the State Historic Preservation Office and on August 6, 2003, St. Anthony Chapel was listed on the State Register of Historic Places by the Connecticut Historical Commission. The Chapel, which had fulfilled Joseph C. Delgado’s dream, became a symbol of the arrival, establishment, and settlement of the Cape Verdeans in the City of Norwich. Roberta brought together a coalition of architectural historians, builders, folklorists, and artists to develop an organization whose focus was to save the Chapel as an icon of Cape Verdean history and culture. In 2004, A Capela do Santo Antonio, Inc. was incorporated as a non-profit organization, and Roberta proceeded to organize grassroots fundraising efforts for its preservation. In late 2004, the present owners of the house and land where it stood decided to raze the Chapel, despite an agreement not to do this. With very little warning, they scheduled the demolition. Roberta and her dedicated helpers rushed to the scene to salvage what they could of the precious contents and some of the structural components, and to take precise measurements so that reconstruction could eventually take place. The Norwich Bulletin took notice of these events and wrote an editorial decrying the unfortunate circumstances of the Chapel’s deconstruction and praising efforts to rebuild through alliances with the Norwich Historical Society and the City.

Roberta and her supporters raised $4,500 from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation for the Chapel restoration. She negotiated with St. Mary’s Church in Norwich, which approved the reconstruction to be made in the Meditation Area in September 2005. The restored Chapel - rebuilt by Cape Verdean labor - was blessed and opened on April 29, 2006, by Most Reverend Daniel P. Reilly, former Bishop of Norwich. Roberta hosted a feast for the community that was attended by hundreds, including the mayor of Norwich and local state representatives. In the fall of 2006, the Cape Verdean Ambassador visited the site, and in 2007 the Cape Verdean Prime Minister toured the chapel as part of his visit to Norwich.

The Chapel reconstruction is not Roberta’s only accomplishment as a Cape Verdean cultural activist - she has served the community in many different capacities. She has been a supporter and office holder of the Cape Verdean Santiago Society for over a decade, organizing an annual dinner dance that honored a Cape Verdean community leader each year. This was the Club’s biggest function and grew out of Roberta’s love for music and her heritage as the daughter and niece of the famous Delgado Band. Roberta has an insatiable curiosity about Cape Verdean culture and history, and she attended the 2005 conference in Washington, Connecting the Global Cape Verdean Nation, with her niece. Roberta has authored a piece on Cape Verdean history in Norwich for the Norwich Historical Society’s city history, and she has written for the Diocese of Norwich newsletter. In March 2007, she sponsored a public showing and discussion of Susan Hurley Glowa’s documentary on Norberto Tavares, Journey of a Badiu, at Norwich Free Academy - home of many Cape Verdean students. Roberta and a team including historian Rachel Carley have received a 2021 grant from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation to conduct research documenting Cape Verdean history in Norwich, along with some mapping of places where the community lived, worked, and gathered. This context will help to inform a second grant for updating Cape Verdean National Register district nominations based on Ethnic Heritage as a theme of historic significance.


Biographical Note: Brenda P. DelGado is a former Executive Director and Health Care Administrator with more than 30 years experience with both the State of Connecticut and the non-profit sector. She is a founding member of the A Capela do Santo Antonio, Inc. and a former Board member of the Santiago Society in Norwich Connecticut. Brenda also helped to establish an annual scholarship for a student of Cape Verdean heritage at the Norwich Free Academy. She is the granddaughter of Joseph C. Delgado whose vision and talent built the Saint Anthony Chapel and who helped to establish the Santiago Society. Brenda is the fourth daughter of Anthony J. DelGado Sr. Brenda and her father spell their name with a capital “G.”


Biographical Note: The Cape Verdean dance group Estrellas was formed in Norwich around 2004 from a previous group that would dance once a year at the Santiago Society/Cape Verdean Club Scholarship Dinner. Young people from this early group along with teens from the Youth Group of the Santiago Society/Cape Verdean Club wanted to learn traditional dances and add some of their own steps as well. The group learned dances from other Cape Verdeans, from videos, and they added their own choreography. The older teens knew the traditional dances and taught these steps to the younger ones. Estrellas performed at Family Day every summer in Norwich, at Cape Verdean Independence Day in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the St. Anthony Chapel dedication in Norwich, at schools and at the Cape Verdean Club in Norwich. Angelina Santos Gardner organized the practices and performances, with her sister and niece helping out and chaperoning. Angelina was involved with the Youth Group from the Cape Verdean Club/Santiago Society, with the dance group, and with the Cape Verdean and Haitian youth group from Norwich Free Academy. The large Cape Verdean youth population in Norwich was eager to educate others about their heritage, especially through the dance performances. They joined with Cape Verdean musicians Pilon Batuku and dancer Maria Rodrigues from New Bedford to learn dance forms batuku, koladeira, funaná, and tchabeta under the Southern New England Traditional Arts Program in Year 9, 2006-2007. Their learning experience culminated in a performance for the visiting Prime Minister of Cape Verde in September 2007.


Biographical Note: Maria Rodrigues performs traditional funana and batuku, African-influenced dances from the Cape Verde island of Santiago, with the group Pilon Batuku led by Joao Cerilo. They have performed at the Lowell Folk Festival (2008) and the Working Waterfront Festival in Massachusetts, with Maria singing as well as dancing. Maria and Joao Cerilo were mentors to the Norwich, Connecticut student dance group Estrellas under the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 2006-2007. On her native island of Santiago, people get together most evenings to play music and dance; batuku and funana are emblematic of the high energy style popular in clubs as well as in the hills and villages. Known as Queen Tida, Maria came to the U.S. when she was seventeen and lives in New Bedford. She and Pilon Batuku are beloved artists in the Cape Verdean clubs of Pawtucket and New Bedford.


Biographical Note: John Monteiro, stage name Joao Cerilo and also known as “Mr. Po D’Terra,” is a Cape Verdean musician originally from the island of Santiago. He lives and works in Rhode Island, where he has performed both traditional and creative synthesizer-driven versions of Cape Verdean music and dance forms such as funaná, tchabeta, and batuku in clubs and community settings. Joao Cerilo, who plays gaeta, a Cape Verdean accordion, has produced several albums from 1981 to 2015. His performances have taken place at the Working Waterfront Festival in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Accordion Festivals in Texas and New York, Cape Verdean Independence Day at Fox Point, Rhode Island, the Lowell Folk Festival in Massachusetts in 2008, Cape Verdean clubs and restaurants in New England and internationally. He formed a traditional music group known as Pilon Batuku, featuring his cousins Eurico and Jose Semedo playing ferinho, a scraped iron stick that is often heard in Cape Verdean music. Pilon Batuku often included dance performances by New Bedford-based Cape Verdean dancer Maria Rodrigues. CCHAP and colleague Winifred Lambrecht encouraged Joao’s traditional music, recording him and including him in the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program four times, to collaborate and teach Eurico and José Semedo funaná, the Waterbury dance group Warm Heart, and the Norwich dance group Estrellas, from 1998-2001 and 2006-2007.


Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this community and these artists.


Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
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