Fox Point was a major port of entry for
Cape Verdeans arriving in the United States of America
They arrived in 1892 on the Nellie May, a packet boat owned by Antonio Coelho.
These early arrivals, the first voluntary immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and Rhode Island’s first Cape Verdean settlement, grew from the late 19th through the mid-20th century in the historic Fox Point area of Tockwotton and Sparrow Parks, near the waterfront and the Port of Providence, adjacent to the docks where the packets landed.
iThe Kboioulo language, kinship, and faith were the glue that bound together the close-knit Cape Verdean neighborhood of tenement homes and businesses that stretped contiguously through Tockwotton, then along South Main, Pike, Brook, Traverse, and Wickenden Streets. Cape Verdeans worked as longshoremen, domestics, cooks, and factory workers in manufacturing, textile mills, and the jewelry industry.
Once a bustling port for loose cargo-lumber, coal, and scrap iron, most of the men from “the Point” worked the boats as proud members of Local 1329 of the I.L.A. (the International Longshoremen’s Association), and women worked as domestics in the wealthy homes on the affluent Eastside or the jewelry industry.
The thriving, self-sufficient street stretched contiguously from Planet Street and South Main Street to India Point; Wickenden and Brook Streets up to John Street; and Benefit, Traverse, and Brook Streets to the river. The locus of Cape Verdeans’ “lived history” was South Main Street, home to significant community institutions, organizations, and businesses.
St. Antonio Association, 1934
Boy’s Club, 1929
Local 1329 of the I.L.A. (International Longshoremen’s Association, 1933
The community’s anchor institutions, located within a two-block radius on South Main Street between Power Street and Williams Street, were the Boys Club (1929), Local 1329 of the I.L.A. (International Longshoremen’s Association), 1933, the first black, predominantly Cape Verdean Union; the St. Antonio Association, 1934, a beneficent organization that provided health and death benefits to the non-English-speaking immigrants. Nearby were Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church for the predominantly Catholic immigrant community and Sheldon Street Church, founded in 1905, and the first Cape Verdean Protestant Church in America.
In the mid-20th century, urban renewal, gentrification, the construction of 1-195, and the expansion of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design displaced the Cape Verdeans in the Tockwotton neighborhood of Fox Point. The concept of Historic Preservation, guided by the College Hill Plan of 1960, created the blueprint for preserving ‘historic fabric’ or structures with historical or architectural significance. Meanwhile, areas or homes designated as ‘urban blight’ became ‘infill’, displacement ripped the heart out of our community that stretched along South Main Street; the heart of our community was dismantled, condemned, and razed. and were slated for demolition.
1932-2026 Domingos Lopes Tribute
Domingos ‘Mingo’ Lopes is a revered founding elder and dedicated Board Member of the Tockwotton Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Place at India Point Park Project, Inc. (TFPCVHP), an independent, community-based research initiative led by former residents and descendants of the first settlement of Cape Verdeans in Rhode Island. The project was launched in 2007 and incorporated as a 501(c) (3) in 2013.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Mingo’s memory may be made to The Center for Independent Documentary, P.O. Box 95216, Newton, MA 02495. Please note “donation in memory of Domingos Lopes” if contributing to either organization.
© SPIA MEDIA PRODUCTIONS, Inc.
Mingo’s Dream: Tockwotton Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Commermorative Park
🔗 2026 IPP UPDATE: INDIA POINT PROJECT AREA CONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN
“Following the fulfillment of Phase II (including the walkway, illumination, play area, and perimeter), the conclusion of the Master Plan study, and the start of Phase III engineering for the park’s east side, we are prepared to advance the Cape Verdean Commemorative Park at the [marked Option A on the CVM pdf] site.“
MAY 5, 2025 RIBBON CUTTING FOR COMPLETION PHASE II
Cape Verdeans march for Heritage Park in Providence
STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES ABOUT THE FALL 2026 TFPCVHP, INC.
PRESENTS FINAL SCHEMATIC to the Board of Park Commissioners
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/3acb36f9cdbb4356ad10dce00243581d
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In 2016, SPIA Media Productions, Inc. migrated forty years of historical, educational, and archival film and video content about the history of Cape Verde and the Tockwotton Fox Point Cape Verdean community to digital formats and platforms.
In the fall of 2025, the SPIA Media Productions, Inc. and the digital team started the final phase of the restoration, remastering, and migration of FORTY YEARS OF SPIA Media Productions, Inc. that upon completion, provides a pristine, accessible and forward-facing beta digital mapping/chronological timeline for digital initiatives including OUR RHODE: A Digital Mile of Tockwotton Fox Point Cape Verdean History about the history of Rhode Island’s first Cape Verdean neighborhood in the Tockwotton Fox.
DONATIONS to CID (the Center for Independent Documentary)
support forward-facing digital initiatives including commemorative legacy projects,
documentaries, educational and cultural exhibitions, and installations. Priorities listed below include an external hard drive for cloud storage, editing hardware, the remastering of BCR documentary portraits, and archival storage.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Pegasus hard drive for cloud storage of digital archive/assets | $5k |
| Mac Studio computer | $6k |
| Remastering of the complete set of the BLUE COLLAR RHODY documentary portraits by Liane Brandon, | $4k |
| Archival steel flat storage case, 36”x48” drawers, 5 or 10 drawers | $2k |
The mission of SPIA Media and the TFPCVHP (Tockwotton Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Project) team is to preserve and document the history and memory of the Tockwotton Cape Verdean community, designated a 2022 Providence Preservation Society, MEP (Most Endangered Property), as an endangered ‘intangible memory’ of the Tockwotton Fox Point Cape Verdean community displaced by historic preservation, urban renewal, I-195, and the expansion of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design.