(March 25, 2021) Jose da Silva was the first person from the Cape Verde islands to become an American citizen while living on Nantucket. It was 1824, the height of the whaling industry and men from the island group off the coast of West Africa often left home for more lucrative positions on Nantucket whale ships.
Eight decades later, when whaling was already history, Cape Verdeans came to the island to take jobs with the Burgess Cranberry Company. They helped turn Gibbs Swamp into what is now the Milestone Cranberry Bog.
As the years passed, their children took jobs in the trades or went off to college. They established a community of their own on Nantucket.
Nearly 200 years after da Silva became a U.S. citizen, members of the island’s Cape Verdean community want to see their story told in the broader history of Nantucket.
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