Laura Pires Hester
BiographyLaura Pires-Hester is a Cape Verdean anthropologist and historian who advised the 1995 Smithsonian Cape Verdean Program. She served as project scholar for the Cape Verdean Community History Project, writing the booklet text on Connecticut Cape Verdeans in the New England Context. She has long been active in Cape Verdean-American organizational life and co-led the successful campaign to repatriate the 105-year old schooner Ernestina. She has visited Cape Verde, the birthplace of her father Joao Marcellino Pires and the parents of her late mother Adeline Pires. Born in Wareham, Massachusetts and living in New York City, Laura is an anthropologist, human services professional, and educator. Formerly Vice-President of the College for Human Services now the Metropolitan College of New York, where she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, she also was Program Officer at the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and Vice President, among many other distinguished positions and volunteer community posts.
Person TypeIndividual
Cape Verdean, 1924 - 2005
