Hampton’s ties to Angola go back 405 years.
It was 1619, when the first people of African descent to be forced to sail to an English-speaking settlement in North America stopped at Old Point Comfort in what is now Fort Monroe.
Those deep roots have inspired efforts in the city to strengthen the cultural connection between Hampton and the southwestern African nation.
Hampton city council recently voted to authorize the establishment of a sister city relationship with Angola’s Malanje province, where those first African people taken to Virginia called home.
“With all of that history, it was just natural that we become sister cities with Malanje,” said Dianne Peterson, Sister Cities of Hampton executive board president.
When finalized, Malanje will be the fifth locality Hampton has “twinned” with and the second from the African continent.
The sister city program was created nationally under President Eisenhower in 1956 as a way to foster cultural exchange, economic development, and “help build the road to an enduring peace.” Peterson said Hampton has been involved since the start, partnering with its first sister city of Southampton, England that same decade.
“The focus is not political,” Peterson said. “It’s more humanitarian in nature than anything. The most important thing is to have an active relationship.”
Peterson said the impetus for the partnership started with the Tucker family, who traced their lineage to William Tucker – the first documented person of African descent born in the English colonies of North America.
The Tuckers took regular trips to Angola and fostered a sense of kinship with its people and the land their ancestors lived on until the 17th century.
“I went with them this year, and it was just amazing,” Peterson said.
A delegation from Hampton, including Vice Mayor Jimmy Gray and Council Member Hope Harper, also made the trip this summer. They met with the governor of Malanje as well as Angola’s president, João Lourenço, who Gray says were very interested in solidifying the relationship.
“The exchange of ideas and culture and economics are important to them as well,” Gray said.
The president’s involvement is unique, according to Peterson. She said typically, partnerships are hashed out between city leaders without much attention on the national-level. But during the visit from Hampton officials, Lourenço told them he’d like to be involved in the signing ceremony.
“This will be the first time that a president of a country has asked to be a part of a twinning ceremony,” Peterson said.
It’s not the only way Angola and Hampton are building bridges. A planned African Landing Memorial at Fort Monroe’s Old Point Comfort will acknowledge their shared history with Malanje.
The signing ceremony was initially planned for the upcoming African Landing Day commemoration on Saturday, August 24, but plans shifted when Lourenço expressed interest in being included.
“We don’t have a definitive date or time at this point,” Peterson said. “We have heard that there is still a possibility that he may come to Hampton the third week in September.”
In the meantime, Hampton will acknowledge those early roots in Angola through multiple events planned over the weekend. African Landing Day at Fort Monroe on Saturday will feature cultural performances and numerous ceremonies, including a blending of soil from Hampton and Angola. Healing ceremonies are scheduled Sunday morning.
Additionally, a kick-off event for the partnership with Malanje is scheduled for Friday, August 23, at 11 a.m. in the Hampton Convention Center.
It’s hosted by the William Tucker 1624 Society, a non-profit led by descendants of William Tucker that is dedicated to research and education about the first African people taken to Virginia. The society will be joined by a delegation of Angola nationals, including Minister of Culture Filipe Silvino de Pina Zau and Angola Ambassador to the U.S. Agostino Van-Dunem.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
