New Bedford photographer Ron Barboza has been using his camera and his photography collection to tell the story of Cape Verdeans in America for decades. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, and raised in New Bedford, he set out to learn more about his Cape Verdean heritage with an initial trip to the West African islands in the mid-1970s. That first trip landed Barboza in the midst of the islands’ struggle to gain its independence and resulted in him documenting the rise of the country’s first president, Aristides Pereira. “I have come to realize that photographing and researching Cape Verde is my ‘life’s work’ and through that effort I hope that I can in some small way spread the appreciation of the islands,” he said in a written statement.
