A Portuguese colonial in America, Belmira Nunes Lopes

"Composed from interviews with her niece, Belmira's story speaks of her upbringing in America without fully understanding her full ethnic and cultural background until adulthood, details how her family immigrated from Cape Verde and struggled to make a life in their new nation, and covers the impact she strove to have on the world during her long and unique life"--Publisher.

"Belmina was an anomaly in U.S. society, not really Negro, not really white, not really Cape Verdean, not really American. Because she was a square peg facing round holes, her story does more than just touch on many issues. As the perpetual outsider, she illuminates them from a truly unique perspective, one that I know of in no other autobiographies. Her story, however, is not one of tragedy, bitterness, and defeat. Because she was mentally tough, resourceful, and adaptable, she coped and persevered. She kept trying to find a suitable mate and, in her later years, found men with whom she could at least be comfortable. She had no children of her own, but she adopted two and raised them, apparently with love and satisfaction"--Laurence Glasco, associate professor, University of Pittsburgh.