My name is Barbara Monteiro Burgo and I am a Cape Verdean woman who identifies as Black. I was born in Taunton, MA on June 19th…thus, I am proud to say I am a Juneteenth baby (1951, so I’m also a proud Senior Citizen, for those who care about intergenerational issues on Cape! Lol)

My mother was born on Cape Cod in 1928. Her birth certificate, which is on file in Hyannis Town Hall, reads “Barnstable” as the county but no specific Town is listed. Her mother, my maternal grandmother, Beatrice Lopes Fonseca, lived in Harwich when I was a child so I have been visiting the Cape for summers and holidays since I can remember…about 60 years.

As a teenager, I felt more “at home” here on Cape, swimming at the local pond and playing in the neighborhood where my grandmother lived - which is legally listed as Main Street, Harwich, but also known at that time as Kelley Street. It was filled with Cape Verdean families who also intermarried with Wampanoag families. Since Taunton’s Census records showed in 2000 that it was about 92% white, I longed for a life with folks who looked like and identified with me. Most of my Cape Verdean family lives near or has worked on the water, which is akin to those still living in the Archipelago of Cabo Verde so, FAMILY meant Cape Cod to me. I vowed to live here someday. Unfortunately, it took until I was divorced and retired before I could call Cape Cod my home. But, fortunately, this relocation began a rich new chapter in my life!

During the summer of 1995, I joined thousands of Cape Verdeans from all over the globe who flocked to the Smithsonian Mall to attend the Folklife Festival where Cape Verde and three other nations were celebrated that year. It coincided with The Republic of Cabo Verde’s 20th year of Independence and the co-founder of the Brockton Cape Verdean Association who was also my sister’s father-in-law called me personally to urge me to attend this important event. It was my first experience with the myriad talents and expertise, award winning personalities and rich culture of my people who were represented in Washington D.C. that year – a proud legacy that we were never taught as children. They were whalers, fishermen, sea captains, doctors, nurses, lawyers, artists, singers, weavers, basket makers, band leaders, entrepreneurs, athletes – all whose legacies was nearly “invisible.” That was the moment it first crossed my mind…why wasn’t there a museum about Cape Verdeans and our legacy in every state in this Nation?

As a non-traditional college student, I was attending Rhode Island College in 1997 studying Cultural Anthropology with a concentration on Cape Verdean culture when my Professors Dr. Richard Lobban and his wife Dr. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban urged me to sign up for the first URI/RIC Summer Seminar Abroad in Cape Verde. I didn’t have the $2,500 for the month-long program but they urged me with the famous words that live with me today…”It will be a life-altering experience” they said. Truer words were never spoken! I fell to the ground when our plane landed on the Island of Sal at the Amilcar Cabral Airport and literally kissed the ground. Enhancing our knowledge of Cabo Verde became my lifelong labor of love. I suggested this in Taunton when I served as the President of the Taunton Cape Verdean Association but there was little interest. It seemed like an insurmountable goal. When I first moved to the Cape, I lived with friends in Harwich and established the Harwich Cape Verdean Museum in 2017, but the support was mixed there, with racism and oppression causing me to close the doors in 2018. Then, upon regrouping with my nieces and friends who were members of the Falmouth Cape Verdean Club along with a request by Rep. David Vieira for a representative of the local CV population on Cape to help by serving on a committee to one day establish a CV Cultural Center in Boston, the idea to relocate the artifacts from the former museum to a site in Falmouth, the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center became more than a dream, it was a long-awaited reality. During the early COVID pandemic social distancing, we held virtual programs such as Mental Health While Black, in coordination with Dee Dee’s Cry of Boston and a Juneteenth celebration via Zoom.

After writing a successful RFP to the Town of Falmouth requesting to lease the historic Emerald House, at 67 Davisville Road, East Falmouth, we opened our doors on Mother’s Day weekend, 2021 with the first exhibit which we lovingly call “Nana’s Kitchen.” This was followed by a nautical room we call the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Room and opened the Cape Verdeans in the Military room just in time for Veteran’s Day 2021 when we honored 6 local Veterans. The fourth room is our “historical” room which has a timeline depicting major events from the early discovery of the Islands to the birth of the father of our revolution, Amilcar Cabral, his assassination, to the first day of Independence from Portugal on July 5, 1975 and so much more.

Establishing ourselves as a 501(c)(3) with Mission Statement, Purpose and by-laws took longer than we initially expected. We secured assistance from SCORE of Cape Cod for initial guidance and ultimately hired a lawyer to finalize the paperwork. Funding is absolutely one of our major hurdles. A successful grant written to a local bank funded cleaning the building inside and out and painting the inside. Programming monies have come from several Mass Humanities and Local Cultural Council and local bank programming grants to host events such as Reading Fredrick Douglass Together and Juneteenth celebrations but hiring administrative staff and enlisting volunteer docents to keep the museum open more days a week is an ongoing issue. Fundraising efforts are inconsistent, especially with the pandemic social distancing concerns, which results in inconsistently paying important bills such as insurance, phone and cable. Awareness that we exist is also a big challenge since we have a Facebook page and Web site but cannot afford to pay a technology person or an intern to keep it maintained. There is no advertising money. Most of our funds come from membership dues and donations at the door.

Despite all of the challenges, we are proud to announce that the Museum Board and volunteer docents have welcomed visitors from all over the country, Canada, Brazil, Portugal and Cabo Verde. Along with Falmouth’s Superintendent of Schools, we visited all four elementary schools to give presentations to the after school students and teachers, welcomed “field trip” bus tours of over 200 second graders and their teachers and are collaborating with Bridgewater State University’s Pedro Pires Institute for Cape Verdean Studies to begin a “sister school” program with a former BSU student who has opened an ELL School in the capital city of Praia, CVI.

We are currently painting a small garage-type building on the property to serve as our “Cultural Center” with funding we received through last year’s State budget process in which we were awarded a $30,000 earmark for which we are eternally grateful. We hope to soon begin teaching our language - Kriolu, art and quilting classes in the Cultural Center and cooking classes at Falmouth Cable TV’s new kitchen. We are editing interviews from Cape Verdeans individuals who have agreed to help us keep our legacy alive by producing a documentary.

Since the lease of our building is for five years – thankfully, the first two years rent free - we hope to move into a larger space and potentially our own building. We chose our name specifically to enable us to open branches of this museum in towns throughout the Cape and Islands, as the biggest complaint we get from locals is that it’s “too far” …all the way to Falmouth? We also hope to formally establish the “sister school” program with Cabo Verde and bring students from Cape Cod to learn about life there as well as invite students from the Archipelago to learn on Cape Cod. Meanwhile, we have been looking for a large van or small bus to create a traveling museum. The collection we have includes many duplicate and triplicate items so that we can eventually travel throughout the Cape during the school year and summer events showcasing the rich, beautiful legacy of Cape Verdeans on Cape Cod and in America.

The advice is to follow your dream, no matter how many times you fall and must get back up again. Regroup, learn from your mistakes, be patient and confident. If it is a co-founder organization, be sure that your collaborators and Board have the same goals as you do. My first museum broke apart because we had differing ideals. I wanted a Museum and Cultural Center and the others only a Museum. To me, eliminating the Cultural Center idea was a deal breaker.

My co-founders had already been hoping to establish a museum in Falmouth. Their dream and the combination of all of our ideas, though not always consistent, gave us the will to keep going when times were tough and we contemplated giving up. Early on, I placed a famous quote on the wall of our Historical Room which I first heard during my initial Cultural Anthropology class while I worked at Wheaton College in Norton before transferring to Rhode Island College. It was by the famous Anthropologist Margaret Mead which reads: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Dr. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban encourages me with: “failure is not an option.” The great Cape Verdean Freedom Fighter Amilcar Cabral stated “A Luta Continua” (the struggle continues).

And, Nelson Mandela has been quoted with saying, “It always seems impossible until it is done.”

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Location: 67 Davisville Road, P.O. Box 726, East Falmouth, MA 02536
Phone: 774-763-2916
Facebook Page: Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center
Website: www.cccvmcc.org
Email: capecodcapeverdean@gmail.com