One day when I was six or seven years old , I was telling my grandfather Ernest Rose that my maternal second great -grandmother was Native American. He then began to tell me where his dad Frank Rose (Francisco Rosa) came from. I was told he came from a place called Cape Verde, Portugal and that I was part Portuguese or Portugee. Out of curiosity I looked in the encyclopedia under Portugal to learn about the "old country". When I finally found the real location (off the West coast of Africa) I was ashamed because I was so young and just heard negative things of Africa. My grandfather and all of his cousins continued to talk of this exotic place which sparked my interest again. I now love and embrace my Cape Verdean roots and feel so connected to the culture! You can't tell this sista she doesn't have criole blood!!