BOSTON- Dr. Aminah Pilgrim was voted Cape Verdean Woman of the Year 2007 in a month long online poll run by FORCV.com that ended January 31, 2008. The Umass Boston professor at the Africana Studies Department and Vice-President of Cape Verdean Association of Brockton was elected to carry that honorable title with 142 (30%) of the 477 total votes. Dr. Pilgrim ran against heavy names in the Cape Verdean community in the US, Cape Verde and abroad such as Maria Mascarenhas (CV General Consul in Boston), Romana Ramos (CACD Director in Pawtucket), Adélcia Pires (President of Infancia Feliz Foundation & CV 1st Lady), Adelina Alves (Upham’s Corner Health Center Community Health Advocates Supervisor), Gunga Tavares (CV Consulate Cultural Attaché in Boston), and Nancy Vieira (popular CV artist from Lisbon) among others. However, the starting underdog was able to take the lead during the second week on the poll and stay ahead all the way to the end. The entire results of the poll can be seen on this page Who’s the Cape Verdean Woman of the Year? (link:

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To give you a glimpse into Dr. Pilgrim’s life and find out how she managed to win such a special honor, FORCV brings to you a fascinating interview that it had with the Cape Verdean Woman of Year:

FORCV: Can you tell us a little about you? Who's Dr. Aminah Pilgrim?

Dr. Pilgrim: I was born in Plymouth, MA and raised in Onset and Wareham, Massachusetts to a Cape Verdean mother and a West Indian father from Barbados. I always tended to identify a bit more with the Cape Verdean side due to the fact that my maternal grandmother played a highly significant role in my life and was my inspiration in many ways. I attended predominantly white schools from grade 4 through 12 and experienced traumatic racism based on my skin color, my culture, etc. This created a desire in me that I felt early on, to learn more about these issues in US history. To help me understand the problem of discrimination, my parents began teaching me about Cape Verdean, Caribbean and African-American history. That exposure gave me pride in my heritages, motivation to study hard and excel and later on give back to help others overcome the stigma that are often attached to people who are from marginalized groups (people of color, poor, etc.). I was fortunate to get accepted to Duke University in North Carolina for college and later Rutgers University in New Jersey for my graduate work. I received grants, scholarships and other aid for both. At these prestigious schools, I was blessed to study with some of the best scholars in the country—one of the most famous historians I studied with encouraged me to study the history of Cape Verdeans in the US for my Ph.D. dissertation and I did. I recently completed my dissertation entitled: “ ‘Free Men Name Themselves’: Cape Verdeans in Massachusetts Negotiate Race, 1900-1980.” It will be published as a book in a year or two. While pursuing my Ph.D., I taught as a professor of Africana Studies at Umass Boston, and a teacher of introductory college courses at Massasoit Community College in Brockton. In Brockton and in Dorchester, I became more intimately involved with the Cape Verdean community through working with individual students and their families, mentoring young people, helping to tutor or teach English and eventually joining the Cape Verdean Association as a volunteer on the Board of Directors. In an effort to improve my Kriolu (and to help Cape Verdean Americans like me to learn the language—which I think is critical), I also joined the Cape Verdean Creole Institute, Inc. and helped with the Creole Institute at Umass Boston when it first started. Much of this is in my resume so I’ll conclude by saying something more personal. Everything that I’ve tried to do as an educator, community organizer and as an individual has been rooted in genuine love for Cape Verde, our Cape Verdean culture and Cape Verdean people—particularly young CV people in the US today, and in the Diaspora. There’s an expression “to whom much is given, much is required” and I truly believe that. I think it’s my responsibility to share all of the blessings I’ve been given, all the knowledge I have and access to opportunities I have so that others can benefit. Thanks to my parents and the sacrifices of all my/our ancestors, I’ve been able to achieve things that I only dreamed of as a kid and now I want to help/see others achieve their dreams.

FORCV: What is it for you to be voted Cape Verdean Woman of the Year 2007? How did you feel after winning the election?

Dr. Pilgrim: I felt very surprised and extremely honored to be nominated for this. For me, being voted CV Woman of the Year 2007 (any year!) is to be counted among some of the most amazing women in the Diaspora—women who have changed lives, impacted the history of the archipelago and made a real difference. I really don’t know if I have truly achieved this kind of status yet but I am dedicated to the same goals that all of the women/ nominees seem to share. I laughed and almost cried when I won because I couldn’t believe it—I was so happy and so grateful to be recognized this way. This honor helped me to start 2008 on a positive note and it is probably the most precious award I’ve ever been given. I hope I’ll do more to be worthy of the title.

FORCV: How did it happen since you were the underdog for the first 2 weeks of the poll?

Dr. Pilgrim: I suspect that former and current students, colleagues that I’ve worked with in the various organizations I belong to and friends and family are responsible for my win.

FORCV: Any projects or ideas in mind about things that the Cape Verdean Woman of the Year want to do?

Dr. Pilgrim: I have a lot of ideas! My closest friends and family know that I’m always coming up with new ideas. One goal was to help start a new charter school in the Brockton area for September 2008 but unfortunately the school was voted down and won’t happen. I think our Cape Verdean children (and others in that area of course) deserve better than what they currently have in the schools and so I’ll try to find other ways to address the issue of improving their education. I’d like to complete my book. I’d like to continue to work with both the CV Association of Brockton and the CV Creole Institute, Inc. to help improve our communities and promote knowledge of the language, history and culture. I also want to get back to work on the problems youth face in Brockton and Dorchester, specifically the problems of violence, unplanned teenage pregnancy, and the learning gap which contributes to high drop out rates in schools. I’ll help Herminio Furtado with an upcoming issue of Fandata magazine dedicated to women and I’ve been invited by Maria Eugenia DaSilva to speak at the CV Women’s Association Women’s Day Annual Dinner in March.

FORCV: Any plans to help boost the participation and activism of Cape Verdean women in leadership positions in our community, where men usually take the leading position in most organizations and activities?

Dr. Pilgrim: This is a difficult question and a difficult issue to address because quite frankly, I think that most of our women are already preoccupied with the hardest job and most important job in the world—motherhood and leading families. I admire these women and the sacrifices and dedication that they demonstrate. So many of our women leaders—many of the women nominated with me for this honor—already balance motherhood with community activism and participation and they don’t even get the credit they deserve! There will be those that continue to work on behalf of CVs in this vain, but many of the pioneers are now getting burned out and are ready to “pass the baton” to younger women who need to be trained and mentored to prepare to take their places. As a college professor, I’m trying to address this by identifying young women who have leadership potential and mentoring them and encouraging them to do what they do and go on to later continue the legacy. I also try to talk to young men as much as I can about changing some of their negative attitudes toward our women. It’s well-known that CV women are some of the most beautiful but we have brains too and the power men have in the community has to be shared!

FORCV: What message you want to send to Cape Verdean women in the US, CV and rest of the Diaspora?

Dr. Pilgrim: First, I want to say to all the “avó s” (grandmothers) like mine (who unfortunately passed away some time ago), and all the mothers: Thank you for all you’ve done and all that you continue to do to make us who we are. I wish I could dedicate this award to my Mother, Minnietta Fernandes Pilgrim, who is my CV woman of the year every year (smile) because she does so much for our family but also to serve the community in her own way! To CV women generally in the US, CV and the rest of the Diaspora (in particular young CV women):

Your beauty and your identity is not only in your physical self, it’s in the spirit and strength that you/we all possess as Cape Verdean women who have overcome so much. Know how special and how worthy you are of the best and respect that. Empower yourselves to be the women of your dreams—no man, no other woman, no one can take those dreams away from you if you dedicate yourselves and live the lives you’ve imagined. As one of my students says, women are the goddesses of the earth who have the power to create and this power is limitless. Too often this is not recognized and we can’t wait for others (especially men) to recognize it for us, we have to lead the way. I am so proud to be included among you.