Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

  • We're Hiring!
  • Help Center

paper cover thumbnail

A Century and a Half of Scholarship on Afro-Latin American Music.

Profile image of Robin Moore

2018, Afro-Latin American Studies: An Introduction

An overview of academic literature on Black Music from the Caribbean and Latin America

Related Papers

Javier Leon

While well-known to most Peruvians, particularly those who are originally from the coastal region, Afroperuvian music has, until recently, had little dissemination outside of Peru. Heidi Feldman’s Black Rhythms of Peru is the first published monograph-length study on Afroperuvian music in two and a half decades and the first to be widely available outside of Peru. Largely based on field work and archival research conducted between 1998 and 2000 in Peru, the United States and Spain, the book focuses on the Afroperuvian revival movement and its legacy from the 1950s into the turn of the twenty first century. Feldman’s central concern is the role that memory projects have in the construction of a diasporic identity and how these are realized in geographical areas that have generally been omitted from or marginal to discussion of the Black Atlantic (namely, the circum Caribbean, the United States and Brazil). To this end, she posits the notion of the Black Pacific and suggests that desc...

essay about afro latin american music

Jesús A. Ramos-Kittrell

Hispanic American Historical Review

Raul A Fernandez

Allan Enrique Bolivar Lobato

The Black Scholar

Dr Matti Steinitz

“Everything started in Colón, soul music came to Panama via Colón,” said bass player Carlos Brown remembering the late 1960s and early 1970s when he and his band Los Dinámicos Exciters were part of the vanguard of a new musical movement that revolutionized popular music in Panama, conquering national TV shows, radio stations, and dancehalls with a unique fusion of US soul music, Caribbean calypso, and the latest Afro-Latin styles from New York, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. While these musical groups which would become known as combos nacionales drew from diverse Afro-hemispheric sources, the predominant influence of soul icons from the US such as James Brown, The Temptations, and Aretha Franklin manifested itself not only in their music but also in their appropriation of US Black aesthetics which was closely related to a sentiment of solidarity and identification with the Civil Rights and Black Power movements among Black Panamanians. Paralleled in magnitude only by the emergence of Latin Soul in 1960s New York and Brazil’s Black Rio movement in the 1970s, the combos introduced African American-inspired “soul style” in a Latin American context that was built upon white mestizo nationalist imaginaries. As many of the combos’ protagonists were Panamanians of Afro-Caribbean descent they gave unprecedented visibility to a community that had been excluded and discriminated against since the arrival of their ancestors from Jamaica, Barbados, and other Anglo-Caribbean islands most of whom had been recruited as labor migrants for the US-lead construction of the Panama Canal between 1904 and 1914. While soul music has often been celebrated as the ultimate expression of the US Black experience, I suggest that a closer look at the popularization of soul music in a Latin American country such as Panama might help to question one-dimensional nationalist interpretations of the genre. While Black Power anthems like James Brown’s “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud” were clearly aimed at closing ranks among African Americans in the US, I argue that soul music in Panama often contributed to building bridges between Panama’s Black Anglophone West Indian minority and the Spanishspeaking native population. It is in this spirit of complicating homogenizing and essentialist narratives of blackness and the prescribed meanings of Black popular culture that I aim to bring the concepts of post-soul and afrolatinidades into a dialogue with each other. In the same vein, it is this essaýs intention to contribute to the bridging of persistent demarcations between African American, Caribbean, and AfroLatin American Studies and further ongoing efforts for the development of a hemispheric perspective on the African diaspora in the Americas as proposed by Ifeoma Nwankwo, Agustín Lao-Montes,

Michael Birenbaum Quintero

Juan C Vega

In this paper, I discuss how African-derived music genres of Puerto Rican music tradition can be integrated to the music classroom. I analyze the historical and social impact resultant from the great influence of African rhythms in Puerto Rican culture.

Situating Popular Musics: IASPM 16th International Conference Proceedings

Martha Ulhôa

Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry

Carlos Álvarez Arcila

Essentially, a summary of extensive and intensive research with several Afro-Colombian musicians who live in Colombia’s Pacific Coastal region, this article is presented as two major complementary components. Firstly, a multimedia, predominantly, with original recorded music and photographs, as importantly, a separate text with explanatory discussions and analyses, both perform key roles and occupy centre stage. The article demonstrates in audible and visible terms the pervasive and living influences of Africa on the region’s cultures. To do so, the article concentrates on an explicit analysis of the currulao music. It traces the music’s origins to the cimarrones who fled the plantations and mines to live in the mountainous, tropical interior. The research shows that the formerly, enslaved Africans drew on their cultures, for example, their drums and music to accommodate and resist the insistent and usually, enforced colonizing activities of the Roman Catholic missionaries.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Kenneth Bilby

Raul R. Romero

The World of Music

Zoila Mendoza

Michelle Rudder

Journal of the American Musicological Society

Carolina Santamaría-Delgado

Slavery and Beyond: The African Impact on Latin …

Latin American Research Review

Caribbean Studies

Norberto Pablo Cirio

Raquel Z Rivera

Simposio Internacional

The Invention of Latin American Music: A Transnational History

Pablo Palomino

Aurelia Martín-Casares

Johann Buis

Juan-Pablo González

THE KEY OF DANZAS DE NEGROS: ON THE STANDARD TONALITIES OF BLACK DANCES IN EARLY MODERN HISPANIC MUSIC

Guillermo Castro Buendía

Robert Garfias

Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

León F. García Corona

Popular Music

Conference, Univ. of Southampton, UK

Carmen Bernand

  •   We're Hiring!
  •   Help Center
  • Find new research papers in:
  • Health Sciences
  • Earth Sciences
  • Cognitive Science
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Science
  • Academia ©2024

Afro-Latin Music and Dancing: Rumba, Chamame Genre, Salsa Essay

  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Chamame genre.

The current essay deals with Afro-Latin music and dancing as the reflection of unique social and cultural values and conditions of Latin American people of African origin. Their cultural contribution to dance and ethnic music is immense and reveals some important traits of Latin cultural, religious, political and social experiences. Within the frames of current research the analysis of two contributions to dancing culture and one contribution to lyric music in a form of ballad will be provided with a particular emphasis on cultural values and social conditions that created them.

The first important contribution to world culture is Rumba which is important in terms of cultural and social practices that gave birth to it. There is no denying the importance of the fact that Rumba was brought to Latin America and Cuba by African people who were used up as slaves on fruit plantations by colonizers. Hence, it should be noted that it appeared on the frontier of original African patterns of dancing and music and social experience of oppression and suffering African met in Latin America.

For them the joyful and sexual meanings of Rumba were a means for lessening sufferings they met in their daily life. Rumba was often restricted and suppressed by colonial authorities as it was regarded by the dominant as dangerous for stability as it energized people and made them free from formalities etc.

Rumba developed in rural Cuba where exploitation of peasants and slaves was the most intense and hence it may be said that rumba represents by large the social and cultural experiences of rural communities. It is still very popular in Mantanzas and Havana especially in areas where black communities dominate but today it intermingles with the elements from hip-hop and jazz.

Another example of African-Latin dancing styles that become very wide-spread is salsa (a word referring to Mexican sauce). It has its origin in the fusion of the informal dance styles of the Caribbean and Latin regions. Besides this it should be noted that it has great influence of the African culture of music and dancing.

The social roots of this dance have much in common with rumba and symbolizing the social suffering and deprivation of all subaltern people of Latin America and the Caribbean. This explains the fact why this dancing style became so much widespread among Latin immigrants in New York and other American cities. They formed ethnic and cultural communities on the borderline of American society being affected by inequality and cultural domination of American society. However they managed to keep their culture, music and dancing which serve as a means for expressing their problems and worldview. Hence, by forming a unique ethnic and social subculture the Latin immigrants to the United States share and try to overcome the hardships they meet in their daily life.

Salsa is intrinsically social and community dancing as it gathers many people in the circle and creates a beautiful atmosphere of unity and the common fate of people.

Frequent exchange of partners and improvisation are the important elements of salsa that characterize its symbolic and social origins.

One of the main contributions of African-Latin to music is Chamame genre which is very widespread in Latin America. It is played with the use of violin, accordion and the Spanish guitar and combines lyrics, rhythm and melodic motives. This genre is a reflection of cultural mixture that characterizes Latin America and an immense impact of African culture on its development.

To sum it up, current research showed that African-Latin music produces important effect on the cultural and social experience of Latin people notwithstanding their ethnic origins. It is a reflection of historical conditions in which they used to live and live now which are characterized by social problems, aspirations of a better future and unrestrained celebration of life and nature.

  • Analysis of Salsa Performance by Sonora at 55th Anniversary
  • Survey of Contemporary Dances
  • English Con Salsa by Gina Valdes
  • How Pop Radio Programming Defines the Music
  • Poverty and Hip-Hop: Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy"
  • Jazz Music Development Since 1945
  • Women’s Contribution to Rock Music Development
  • "Why Rap Should Be Banned": Fallacy Analysis
  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, September 13). Afro-Latin Music and Dancing: Rumba, Chamame Genre, Salsa. https://ivypanda.com/essays/afro-latin-music-and-dancing-rumba-chamame-genre-salsa/

"Afro-Latin Music and Dancing: Rumba, Chamame Genre, Salsa." IvyPanda , 13 Sept. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/afro-latin-music-and-dancing-rumba-chamame-genre-salsa/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Afro-Latin Music and Dancing: Rumba, Chamame Genre, Salsa'. 13 September.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Afro-Latin Music and Dancing: Rumba, Chamame Genre, Salsa." September 13, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/afro-latin-music-and-dancing-rumba-chamame-genre-salsa/.

1. IvyPanda . "Afro-Latin Music and Dancing: Rumba, Chamame Genre, Salsa." September 13, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/afro-latin-music-and-dancing-rumba-chamame-genre-salsa/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Afro-Latin Music and Dancing: Rumba, Chamame Genre, Salsa." September 13, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/afro-latin-music-and-dancing-rumba-chamame-genre-salsa/.

  • Skip to main content
  • Keyboard shortcuts for audio player
  • Alt.Latino Radio

Alt.Latino

  • LISTEN & FOLLOW
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Google Podcasts
  • Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

For Black History Month, Celebrate Afro-Latino Music With Smithsonian Folkways

Felix Contreras.

Felix Contreras

essay about afro latin american music

This week we feature Quetzal's The Eternal Getdown and other Afro-Latino music from Smithsonian Folkways. Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways hide caption

This week we feature Quetzal's The Eternal Getdown and other Afro-Latino music from Smithsonian Folkways.

As part of our celebration of Black History Month and Afro-Latino culture, we turn this week to how the influence of Africa has been interpreted in various Latin and Caribbean cultures. The music of West Africa, where a majority of those enslaved in the Americas came from, was diffused through both an indigenous and Spanish filter to become the distinct sounds and rhythms that we know today.

Cumbia, bachata, mambo and son jarocho are all quite distinct from each other and are still very vibrant expressions of tradition. But, more importantly, they also inform and influence a tidal wave of new expression, mixing with hip-hop, electronic, rock and jazz to form the musical bedrock of Alt.Latino .

In this week's show, we dive into the vaults of Smithsonian Folkways , the non-profit record label dedicated to American folk traditions of all kinds. Our guide is Folkways curator emeritus Dan Sheehy , who knows a thing or two about Afro-Latino music and culture: He has traveled extensively to produce many of the great recordings in the archive.

Don't think that this music and these recordings are dusty museum relics. Musicians throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. make this a living, breathing document of where we come from and who we are today.

Alt.Latino's Afro-Latino Mixtape

And while the history and musicianship of these songs are certainly worthy of intense scrutiny, don't forget that it is all basically dance music! So you can listen to the songs individually below, or boogie down with this funky mixtape, where the songs flow from one to the other for optimal dancing pleasure.

But I suggest you loosen up a little first: That traditional merengue is quite fast and will definitely challenge your hip-swaying skills.

Hear The Songs

No Alternative Text

"Olokun y Yemayá"

From 'The Eternal Getdown'

Franklyn Hernández y sus Tipican Brothers

No Alternative Text

From 'Quisqueya on the Hudson'

By Franklyn Hernández y sus Tipican Brothers

Tito Matos and Viento de Agua Unplugged

No Alternative Text

From 'Viento de Agua Unplugged: Materia Prima'

By Tito Matos and Viento de Agua Unplugged

Los Pleneros de la 21

No Alternative Text

"Baila, Julia Loíza"

From 'Para Todos Ustedes'

By Los Pleneros de la 21

Ivo and Band

No Alternative Text

"Pedazo de Acordeón"

From '¡Ayombe: The Heart of Colombia's Música Vallenata!'

By Ivo Diaz and Band

Cándido Martínez

No Alternative Text

"Idé werere ni'ta Oshún idé werere"

From 'Havana & Matanzas, Cuba 1957: Bata, Bembe and Palo Songs'

By Cándido Martínez

La Sardina de Naiguatá

No Alternative Text

"Parranda callejera"

From '¡Parranda! Venezuelan Carnival Music'

By La Sardina de Naiguatá

José Gutiérrez y Los Hermanos Ochoa

No Alternative Text

"Siquisirí"

From 'La Bamba: Sones Jarochos from Veracruz'

By José Gutiérrez y Los Hermanos Ochoa

More Than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and Musicians

  • Standard View
  • Article contents
  • Figures & tables
  • Supplementary Data
  • Peer Review
  • Open the PDF for in another window
  • Permissions
  • Cite Icon Cite
  • Search Site

Dale A. Olsen; More Than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and Musicians. Hispanic American Historical Review 1 May 1986; 66 (2): 439. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-66.2.439

Download citation file:

  • Reference Manager

This book is the result of a symposium on African and Afro-American music which was sponsored by the Center for Ethnic Music at Howard University. It is the first of a projected two-volume work—this one includes “Africa, South America, and the Caribbean, and the second . . . the United States” (p. xiv). Except for the first two essays by two pioneers in American ethnomusicology, Bruno Netti and Mantle Hood, the remaining eight chapters are by young scholars of African and African-derived music.

The editor explains that her goal is to provide the scholarly community with a collection of ethnomusicological essays covering Africa and the Afro-Americas. People interested in colonial and contemporary South America and the Caribbean, however, may find this book of only peripheral interest because of what is not included; Latin America is represented only by the articles on a small region of Brazil (Nago music from Bahia) and Panama (negro mestizo music). Certainly South American and Caribbean African-derived music should warrant a book by itself, considering what the series seeks to do.

Unfortunately, this collection of essays is not unified by any particular theme or approach; the general topic of ethnic heritage provides its only base. For example, the dicta within the first two chapters by Netti and Hood, although of great value to the ethnomusicologist (and any researcher), are not followed by many of the authors of the subsequent chapters; only a few of the articles are based on a particular research design (deemed important by Netti, p. 17), and both Latin American articles are based on comparisons with African music (contrary to what Hood suggests, p. 28).

This book, nevertheless, could be of value as a supplementary text for an ethnomusicology area course on Africa and the Afro-Americas.

Data & Figures

Issue Cover

  • Previous Issue
  • Previous Article
  • Next Article

Advertisement

Supplements

Citing articles via, email alerts, related articles, related topics, related book chapters, affiliations.

  • About Hispanic American Historical Review
  • Editorial Board
  • For Authors
  • Rights and Permissions Inquiry
  • Online ISSN 1527-1900
  • Print ISSN 0018-2168
  • Copyright © 2024
  • Duke University Press
  • 905 W. Main St. Ste. 18-B
  • Durham, NC 27701
  • (888) 651-0122
  • International
  • +1 (919) 688-5134
  • Information For
  • Advertisers
  • Book Authors
  • Booksellers/Media
  • Journal Authors/Editors
  • Journal Subscribers
  • Prospective Journals
  • Licensing and Subsidiary Rights
  • View Open Positions
  • email Join our Mailing List
  • catalog Current Catalog
  • Accessibility
  • Get Adobe Reader

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

  • United Kingdom

Latin Music Erases The Black Roots of Many Genres

How “latin music” erases the black origins of many genres.

"Why is the need to create a Latin identity in the national and economic marketplace often considered more important than the need to assert a Black one?"

"When Black Latines and Latin Americans are not the faces of the genres they created — and therefore, not financial beneficiaries or models of authenticity when these styles of music take off — we begin to unravel who actually has access to industry, economy, livelihood, and presentation of the self."

"As we continue to see Arnaz-like spans in Latin music, we need to not only question appropriation but also how modern-day blanqueamiento expunges Blackness."

"It would take a complete overhaul of the Latin music industry to give Black Latine and Latin American artists the credit and payment they deserve, and we can play our part to help push it in that direction."

Latin American Studies

  • Latino Studies
  • Linguistics
  • Literary and Critical Theory
  • Medieval Studies
  • Military History
  • Political Science
  • Public Health
  • Renaissance and Reformation
  • Social Work
  • Urban Studies
  • Victorian Literature
  • Browse All Subjects

How to Subscribe

  • Free Trials

In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section The Musical Tradition in Latin America

Introduction, general overviews.

  • Primary Sources and Guides to Musical Sources
  • Pre-Columbian
  • Iberian Musical Tradition
  • European Contact
  • Urban Music
  • Mission Music
  • 19th- and 20th-Century Art Music
  • Popular Music
  • Immigrant Music and Identity
  • Musical Spectacles and Festivals
  • Music and Globalization
  • Latin American and Latino Music in the United States

Related Articles Expand or collapse the "related articles" section about

About related articles close popup.

Lorem Ipsum Sit Dolor Amet

Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Aliquam ligula odio, euismod ut aliquam et, vestibulum nec risus. Nulla viverra, arcu et iaculis consequat, justo diam ornare tellus, semper ultrices tellus nunc eu tellus.

  • Andean Music
  • Brazilian Popular Music, Performance, and Culture
  • Contemporary Brazilian Cinema
  • Cultural History
  • Immigration in Latin America
  • Music in Colonial Latin America

Other Subject Areas

Forthcoming articles expand or collapse the "forthcoming articles" section.

  • Afro-Andeans
  • Economies in the Era of Nationalism and Revolution
  • Violence and Memory in Modern Latin America
  • Find more forthcoming articles...
  • Export Citations
  • Share This Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

The Musical Tradition in Latin America by Kristin Mann LAST REVIEWED: 31 August 2015 LAST MODIFIED: 31 August 2015 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199766581-0179

Music is an important part of understanding the history and people of Latin America. The musical diversity and complexity of Latin America is extraordinary, having developed over centuries as the product of cultural exchange. Prior to European contact, native groups incorporated music and dance as integral parts of daily life, in education, work, and leisure activities. Song and dance, accompanied by percussion instruments and aerophones made from bones and shells, comprised a large part of religious rituals, ceremonies for rites of passage and harvest, and leisure and work activities throughout the Americas. It functioned as a medium of communication within and between groups and with the spiritual world. Music was part of European expeditions to claim territory in the Americas, and it was quickly incorporated into missionary evangelization efforts. Dance and musical practice provided opportunities for indigenous cultural maintenance and reinvention within the context of colonialism. Europeans brought musical instruments that were adapted to use in new contexts: these included stringed instruments, such as the guitar, violin, and harp; wind instruments such as flutes and chirimías; and the organ. The music and liturgy of the mass, devotional songs, liturgical theater, and secular song and dance all gained important places in colonial culture throughout American colonies. Africans, enslaved and free, brought new rhythms, dances, songs, and musical practices with them to the Americas as well, creating unique syncretic blends of song, dance, and performance. In the 19th century, art music was composed and performed in the urban centers of Latin America, and music was incorporated into newly independent states as part of efforts to define national identity. Modern music in Latin America continues to reflect the diversity of the history and population of the region. Ethnic groups define themselves through music and dance. Religious music remains an important part of ritual celebrations, particularly processions and festivals of the Catholic Church. Secular song and dance genres, from son, to salsa, merengue, rumba, and samba gained popularity not only in Latin America but also in the United States and worldwide in the second half of the 20th century. Music became linked with mass media—first radio, then movies and television, audio recordings, and performances for tourists—reshaping its meaning. This article will consider work by scholars in the fields of music, anthropology, sociology, history, and cultural studies, which looks not only at the musical genres and performers but also at the cultural, political, and economic contexts and meanings.

Overviews of music in Latin America are largely authored by musicologists and ethnomusicologists. These works focus on tracing the development of unique musical genres that have resulted from interethnic contact, and defining the types of music performed in Latin America today. Succinct introductions to the major genres and themes appear in Seeger 1998 and the first chapter of Schechter 1999 (cited under Textbooks ). Other good, frequently updated starting points for understanding Latin American music are the online encyclopedia entries Stevenson and Webber 2012 and Robertson and Béhague 2012 . The former is a concise entry, arranged geographically, while the latter is more extensive and is arranged chronologically. The first major overview of music in Latin America, arranged by historic period and by country in the national period was Chase 1972 . Gerard Béhague, Chase’s student, authored the standard overview ( Béhague 1979 ). Multiple authors contributed to the encyclopedic treatments of Latin American music, Kuss 2004 and Olsen and Sheehy 1998 .

Béhague, Gerard. Music in Latin America: An Introduction . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979.

A historical overview of art music in Latin America from the colonial period through the 20th century. Major genres and composers are discussed, and musical examples are included.

Chase, Gilbert. A Guide to the Music of Latin America . 2d rev. ed. New York: AMS, 1972.

A reprint of the second expanded edition (1962) of the classic overview of Latin American music, published in 1945 by the Pan American Union’s Division of Music and Visual Arts and the Library of Congress.

Kuss, Malena, ed. Music in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Encyclopedic History . 2 vols. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004.

This encyclopedia set currently includes two volumes with audio examples on compact discs. Volume 1 covers the music and performance of indigenous groups. The second volume contains essays on music of the Caribbean. Two future volumes are planned; volume three will be a historical overview of major genres, and Volume 4 will include essays on urban popular music.

Olsen, Dale A., and Daniel E. Sheehy. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music : South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean . Vol. 2. New York: Garland, 1998.

Thorough, illustrated treatment of Latin American music, arranged by country with a historical overview of major periods.

Robertson, Carolina, and Gerard Béhague. “ Latin America .” In Grove Music Online . 2012.

Current entry from the electronic version of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Printed version widely available in library reference sections, while online version requires a subscription. Sections on indigenous music, past and present, historical patterns, and contemporary musical practices.

Seeger, Anthony. “Musical Genres and Contexts.” In The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music : South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean . Vol. 2. Edited by Dale A. Olsen and Daniel E. Sheehy, 43–53. New York: Garland, 1998.

This brief essay provides an excellent introduction to the contexts in which music has been performed throughout Latin America and defines the most important musical genres.

Stevenson, Robert, and Christopher Webber. “ Latin America .” In The Oxford Companion to Music . Edited by Alison Latham. 2012.

Current entry from the electronic version of the Oxford Companion to Music , the briefest introduction to Latin American music arranged by region: Mexico and Central America, Spanish-speaking South America, Brazil, and the Caribbean. Online version requires a subscription.

back to top

Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login .

Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here .

  • About Latin American Studies »
  • Meet the Editorial Board »
  • Abortion and Infanticide
  • African-Descent Women in Colonial Latin America
  • Agricultural Technologies
  • Alcohol Use
  • Ancient Andean Textiles
  • Andean Contributions to Rethinking the State and the Natio...
  • Andean Social Movements (Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru)
  • Anti-Asian Racism
  • Antislavery Narratives
  • Arab Diaspora in Brazil, The
  • Arab Diaspora in Latin America, The
  • Argentina in the Era of Mass Immigration
  • Argentina, Slavery in
  • Argentine Literature
  • Army of Chile in the 19th Century
  • Asian Art and Its Impact in the Americas, 1565–1840
  • Asian-Peruvian Literature
  • Atlantic Creoles
  • Baroque and Neo-baroque Literary Tradition
  • Beauty in Latin America
  • Bello, Andrés
  • Black Experience in Colonial Latin America, The
  • Black Experience in Modern Latin America, The
  • Bolaño, Roberto
  • Borderlands in Latin America, Conquest of
  • Borges, Jorge Luis
  • Bourbon Reforms, The
  • Brazilian Northeast, History of the
  • Buenos Aires
  • California Missions, The
  • Caribbean Philosophical Association, The
  • Caribbean, The Archaeology of the
  • Cartagena de Indias
  • Caste War of Yucatán, The
  • Caudillos, 19th Century
  • Cádiz Constitution and Liberalism, The
  • Central America, The Archaeology of
  • Children, History of
  • Chile's Struggle for Independence
  • Chronicle, The
  • Church in Colonial Latin America, The
  • Chávez, Hugo, and the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela
  • Cinema, Contemporary Brazilian
  • Cinema, Latin American
  • Colonial Central America
  • Colonial Latin America, Crime and Punishment in
  • Colonial Latin America, Pilgrimage in
  • Colonial Legal History of Peru
  • Colonial Lima
  • Colonial New Granada
  • Colonial Portuguese Amazon Region, from the 17th to 18th C...
  • Comics, Cartoons, Graphic Novels
  • Contemporary Indigenous Film and Video Production
  • Contemporary Indigenous Social and Political Thought
  • Contemporary Maya, The
  • Cortés, Hernán
  • Cárdenas and Cardenismo
  • Cuban Revolution, The
  • de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Fernando
  • Dependency Theory in Latin American History
  • Development of Architecture in New Spain, 1500–1810, The
  • Development of Painting in Peru, 1520–1820, The
  • Drug Trades in Latin America
  • Dutch in South America and the Caribbean, The
  • Early Colonial Forms of Native Expression in Mexico and Pe...
  • Economies from Independence to Industrialization
  • Ecuador, La Generación del 30 in
  • Education in New Spain
  • El Salvador
  • Enlightenment and its Visual Manifestations in Spanish Ame...
  • Environmental History
  • Era of Porfirio Díaz, 1876–1911, The
  • Family History
  • Film, Science Fiction
  • Football (Soccer) in Latin America
  • Franciscans in Colonial Latin America
  • From "National Culture" to the "National Popular" and the ...
  • Gaucho Literature
  • Gender and History in the Andes
  • Gender during the Period of Latin American Independence
  • Gender in Colonial Brazil
  • Gender in Postcolonial Latin America
  • Gentrification in Latin America
  • Guaman Poma de Ayala, Felipe
  • Guaraní and Their Legacy, The
  • Guatemala and Yucatan, Conquest of
  • Guatemala City
  • Guatemala (Colonial Period)
  • Guatemala (Modern & National Period)
  • Haitian Revolution, The
  • Health and Disease in Modern Latin America, History of
  • History, Cultural
  • History, Food
  • History of Health and Disease in Latin America and the Car...
  • Honor in Latin America to 1900
  • Honor in Mexican Public Life
  • Horror in Literature and Film in Latin America
  • Human Rights in Latin America
  • Independence in Argentina
  • Indigenous Borderlands in Colonial and 19th-Century Latin ...
  • Indigenous Elites in the Colonial Andes
  • Indigenous Population and Justice System in Central Mexico...
  • Indigenous Voices in Literature
  • Japanese Presence in Latin America
  • Jesuits in Colonial Latin America
  • Jewish Presence in Latin America, The
  • José María Arguedas and Early 21st Century Cultural and Po...
  • Las Casas, Bartolomé de
  • Latin American Independence
  • Latin American Multispecies Studies
  • Latin American Theater and Performance
  • Latin American Urbanism, 1850-1950
  • Law and Society in Latin America since 1800
  • Legal History of New Spain, 16th-17th Centuries
  • Legal History of the State and Church in 18th Century New ...
  • LGBT Literature
  • Literature, Argentinian
  • Machado de Assis
  • Magical Realism
  • Maroon Societies in Latin America
  • Marriage in Colonial Latin America
  • Martí, José, and Cuba
  • Menchú, Rigoberta
  • Mesoamerica, The Archaeology of
  • Mestizaje and the Legacy of José María Arguedas
  • Mexican Nationalism
  • Mexican Revolution, 1910–1940, The
  • Mexican-US Relations
  • Mexico, Conquest of
  • Mexico, Education in
  • Mexico, Health Care in 20th-Century
  • Migration to the United States
  • Military and Modern Latin America, The
  • Military Government in Latin America, 1959–1990
  • Military Institution in Colonial Latin America, The
  • Mining Extraction in Latin America
  • Modern Decorative Arts and Design, 1900–2000
  • Modern Populism in Latin America
  • Modernity and Decoloniality
  • Musical Tradition in Latin America, The
  • Mystics and Mysticism
  • Native Presence in Postconquest Central Peru
  • Natural Disasters in Early Modern Latin America
  • Neoliberalism
  • Neruda, Pablo
  • New Conquest History and the New Philology in Colonial Mes...
  • New Left in Latin America, The
  • Novel, Chronology of the Venezuelan
  • Novel of the Mexican Revolution, The
  • Novel, 19th Century Haitian
  • Novel, The Colombian
  • Nuns and Convents in Colonial Latin America
  • Oaxaca, Conquest and Colonial
  • Ortega, José y Gasset
  • Painting in New Spain, 1521–1820
  • Paraguayan War (War of the Triple Alliance)
  • Pastoralism in the Andes
  • Paz, Octavio
  • Perón and Peronism
  • Peru, Colonial
  • Peru, Conquest of
  • Peru, Slavery in
  • Philippines Under Spanish Rule, 1571-1898
  • Photography in the History of Race and Nation
  • Political Exile in Latin America
  • Ponce de León
  • Popular Culture and Globalization
  • Popular Movements in 19th-Century Latin America
  • Portuguese-Spanish Interactions in Colonial South America
  • Post Conquest Aztecs
  • Post-Conquest Demographic Collapse
  • Poverty in Latin America
  • Preconquest Incas
  • Pre-conquest Mesoamerican States, The
  • Pre-Revolutionary Mexico, State and Nation Formation in
  • Printing and the Book
  • Prints and the Circulation of Colonial Images
  • Protestantism in Latin America
  • Puerto Rican Literature
  • Religions in Latin America
  • Revolution and Reaction in Central America
  • Rosas, Juan Manuel de
  • Sandinista Revolution and the FSLN, The
  • Santo Domingo
  • Science and Empire in the Iberian Atlantic
  • Science and Technology in Modern Latin America
  • Sephardic Culture
  • Sexualities in Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Slavery in Brazil
  • South American Dirty Wars
  • South American Missions
  • Spanish American Arab Literature
  • Spanish and Portuguese Trade, 1500–1750
  • Spanish Caribbean In The Colonial Period, The
  • Spanish Colonial Decorative Arts, 1500-1825
  • Spanish Florida
  • Spanish Pacific, The
  • Spiritual Conquest of Latin America, The
  • Sports in Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Studies on Academic Literacies in Spanish-Speaking Latin A...
  • Telenovelas and Melodrama in Latin America
  • Textile Traditions of the Andes
  • 19th Century and Modernismo Poetry in Spanish America
  • 20th-Century Mexico, Mass Media and Consumer Culture in
  • 16th-Century New Spain
  • Tourism in Modern Latin America
  • Transculturation and Literature
  • Trujillo, Rafael
  • Tupac Amaru Rebellion, The
  • United States and Castro's Cuba in the Cold War, The
  • United States and the Guatemalan Revolution, The
  • United States Invasion of the Dominican Republic, 1961–196...
  • Urban History
  • Urbanization in the 20th Century, Latin America’s
  • US–Latin American Relations during the Cold War
  • Vargas, Getúlio
  • Venezuelan Literature
  • Women and Labor in 20th-Century Latin America
  • Women in Colonial Latin American History
  • Women in Modern Latin American History
  • Women's Property Rights, Asset Ownership, and Wealth in La...
  • World War I in Latin America
  • Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Legal Notice
  • Accessibility

Powered by:

  • [185.148.24.167]
  • 185.148.24.167

Top of page

Afro-Latinos: Shaping the American story

February 25, 2021

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Share this post:

essay about afro latin american music

This is a guest post by María Peña, a public relations strategist in the Library’s Office of Communications.

No discussion around Black History Month would be complete without exploring the significant contributions of Afro-Latinos to American culture and society. The Library provides a rich sampling of some of these icons who have enriched the national mosaic.

Latinos can be of any race, and according to the Pew Research Center, about 25 percent of Hispanics in the U.S. self-identify as Afro-Latinos. As members of the African diaspora, they have faced discrimination for being black and alienation because of their language and accent.

Orlando Cepeda, the Hall-of-Fame first baseman from Puerto Rico, summed it up this way after a brilliant 17-year career in Major League Baseball from 1958 to 1974: “We had two strikes against us: One for being black, and another for being Latino.”

Spanish-speaking Africans were present in North America before the arrival of English settlers and Afro-Latinos came to be an integral part of American history. Their stories and struggles interweaved with those of Africans enslaved by English settlers and added to the nation’s cultural tapestry. Still, because white society seldom sought to understand or differentiate differences between Blacks, Afro-Latinos have often been underreported in the news media or are barely mentioned in history textbooks.

“Afro-Latinos have had a long history and strong presence in U.S history since the mid-16th century and very few Americans are aware of the term ‘Afro-Latinos,’ ” said Carlos Olave, head of the Hispanic Reading Room.

Nevertheless, as D.C. AfroLatino Caucus founder Manuel Méndez points out, the world would not be the same without prominent Afro-Cuban musicians like Mario Bauza. And no one can forget Johnny Pacheco , the Dominican-American music legend who co-founded Fania Records in the 1960s and helped create the genre of music known today as salsa. When he died on Feb. 15, the world lost an icon. There was also the  heroic efforts of Dominican-born Esteban Hotesse, a Tuskegee Airman during World War II, to integrate the military.

Here are just a few more of the names who have changed American history, many of whom you can find in the Library’s collections.

— Puerto Rican historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was a key intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and spent his life championing Black history and literature.  His collection of books, documents and artifacts from and about Black history from around the world helped establish the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem in 1926, within the New York Public Library.

Before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color line with the Dodgers in 1947, several Afro-Cuban players had made inroads decades earlier for people of color in the nation’s pastime , including Estevan Enrique Bellán, Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans. During the ensuing decades, Roberto Clemente , Orlando Cepeda, Minnie Miñoso and the Alou brothers (Felipe, Manny and Jesus) were among the sport’s most important Afro-Latino players, setting the stage for future generations to become some of the brightest stars in the game. In 2020,10.7 percent of MLB’s entire roster was from the Dominican Republic alone.

essay about afro latin american music

— The arts and entertainment world of the early to mid-20th century was flavored with the rhythms of Afro-Latino mega stars like Sammy Davis Jr. (his mother, Elvera Sanchez, was of Afro-Cuban descent), Celia Cruz , Machito (Frank Grillo) and Negrura Peruana . Machito fused traditional Cuban dance rhythms with big-band arrangements to dominate the post-war Latin music scene during the Golden Age of Latin Music; the Library has a huge trove of his papers . Cruz, also known as the “Queen of Salsa”, won numerous awards throughout her 60-year career, with sold-out performances where her battle cry “¡Azúcar!” (“Sugar!”) alluded to African slaves working in sugar cane plantations in her native Cuba.

As in baseball, these Afro-Latino artists founded a platform so broad that is taken for granted today;  Mariah Carey, Rosario Dawson, Esperanza Spalding and Zoe Saldana and just a few names to drop.

— In literature, Afro-Latino authors have added their voices to the national dialogue for years, with their works attracting an international following . The list includes Junot Díaz , (“Drown,” “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”) born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey; Brazilian author Paulo Lins (“City of God,” adapted to film in 2002); Dominican-American author Elizabeth Acevedo (“The Poet X,” winner of the National Book Award For Young People); Veronica Chambers , the Panamanian-American journalist and author; and Puerto Rican authors Mayra Santos Febres and Dahlma Llanos Figueroa.

–In science, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has talked about his Afro-Latino heritage as the son of a Puerto Rican mother and an African-American father and has written about his experiences with racial profiling. Growing up in the Bronx, deGrasse Tyson developed a passion for astronomy after a visit to the sky theater at the Hayden Planetarium at the age of nine. He became the fifth director of the New York City-based planetarium in 1996, and he continues to promote science literacy and to popularize science through lectures , seminars, and national book tours.

Subscribe  to the blog— it’s free! — and the largest library in world history will send cool stories straight to your inbox.

Comments (6)

Lumping Black Americans in with Latino immigrants need to stop. These people have their own culture in the Caribbean, that is nothing like Black culture, stop forcing this narrative.

Both black and latinos need to learn to love each other fr fr tho.

i agree w izzy vega tbh, clay isn’t even talking abt the same thing.. bro ?

Hi I really loved this book.I read it to my kids and they really understanded.I gave this to my class and they said it is really good.Its good for showing someone what an afro latino is.This shows me that afro latinos are individuals of Latin America or of Latin American descent who are also of African ancestry.

what is clay frl talkin about cmon mane I really loved this passage read it to my step mother she loved it because she a afro latina and somehow I’m not like grah

I agree with everything, the other comments said

See All Comments

Add a Comment Cancel reply

This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully responsible for everything that you post. The content of all comments is released into the public domain unless clearly stated otherwise. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site. Read our Comment and Posting Policy .

Required fields are indicated with an * asterisk.

  • Utility Menu

University Logo

  • Meet with an Adviser

HL90CQ: Afro-Latin American Cultures: Race, Religion, Music, and Literature

Semester: , offered: .

Instructor: Rebecca A. Kennedy de Lorenzini Meeting time: Wednesday, 12:45 - 2:45

Afro Latin American Cultures

We will also consider where ideas of homeland and displacement shift with experiences of migration and in borderland regions. Themes of racialized and gendered experience will be discussed as well as systems of racism, oppression, cultural imperialism, and individual and collective agency within this history. The rich diversity of Afro-Latin American cultures will be highlighted in both the Caribbean and South America, as well as in sites of connection and convergence such as New York City, Havana, and Panamá.

Register for HL90CQ on my.harvard .

Worksheets & Forms

The following advising tools help guide students in reflecting on their goals and the coherence of their individualized work in the concentration. Concentrators complete these forms in consultation with their advisers.

  • Field Worksheets
  • Field Declaration Form
  • Modern World Proposal Form
  • World Before 1800 Proposal Form
  • Subfield Proposal Form
  • Senior Thesis Interests Form
  • Petition Form

Visit the  Forms page for a step-by-step guide to these materials and their role in a student's progress through the concentration.

essay about afro latin american music

  • Arts & Photography
This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location. Please choose a different delivery location.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Image Unavailable

More Than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and Musicians (Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies)

  • To view this video download Flash Player

essay about afro latin american music

Follow the authors

Irene V. Jackson

More Than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and Musicians (Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies) First Edition

  • ISBN-10 0313230935
  • ISBN-13 978-0274913138
  • Edition First Edition
  • Publisher Praeger
  • Publication date July 24, 1985
  • Language English
  • Dimensions 5.5 x 0.56 x 8.5 inches
  • Print length 204 pages
  • See all details

Products related to this item .sp_detail_sponsored_label { color: #555555; font-size: 11px; } .sp_detail_info_icon { width: 11px; vertical-align: text-bottom; fill: #969696; } .sp_info_link { text-decoration:none !important; } #sp_detail_hide_feedback_string { display: none; } .sp_detail_sponsored_label:hover { color: #111111; } .sp_detail_sponsored_label:hover .sp_detail_info_icon { fill: #555555; } Sponsored (function(f) {var _np=(window.P._namespace("FirebirdSpRendering"));if(_np.guardFatal){_np.guardFatal(f)(_np);}else{f(_np);}}(function(P) { P.when("A", "a-carousel-framework", "a-modal").execute(function(A, CF, AM) { var DESKTOP_METRIC_PREFIX = 'adFeedback:desktop:multiAsinAF:sp_detail'; A.declarative('sp_detail_feedback-action', 'click', function(event) { var MODAL_NAME_PREFIX = 'multi_af_modal_'; var MODAL_CLASS_PREFIX = 'multi-af-modal-'; var BASE_16 = 16; var UID_START_INDEX = 2; var uniqueIdentifier = Math.random().toString(BASE_16).substr(UID_START_INDEX); var modalName = MODAL_NAME_PREFIX + "sp_detail" + uniqueIdentifier; var modalClass = MODAL_CLASS_PREFIX + "sp_detail" + uniqueIdentifier; initModal(modalName, modalClass); removeModalOnClose(modalName); }); function initModal (modalName, modalClass) { var trigger = A.$(' '); var initialContent = ' ' + ' ' + ' '; var HEADER_STRING = "Leave feedback"; if (false) { HEADER_STRING = "Ad information and options"; } var modalInstance = AM.create(trigger, { 'content': initialContent, 'header': HEADER_STRING, 'name': modalName }); modalInstance.show(); var serializedPayload = generatePayload(modalName); A.$.ajax({ url: "/af/multi-creative/feedback-form", type: 'POST', data: serializedPayload, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'application/json'}, success: function(response) { if (!response) { return; } modalInstance.update(response); var successMetric = DESKTOP_METRIC_PREFIX + ":formDisplayed"; if (window.ue && window.ue.count) { window.ue.count(successMetric, (window.ue.count(successMetric) || 0) + 1); } }, error: function(err) { var errorText = 'Feedback Form get failed with error: ' + err; var errorMetric = DESKTOP_METRIC_PREFIX + ':error'; P.log(errorText, 'FATAL', DESKTOP_METRIC_PREFIX); if (window.ue && window.ue.count) { window.ue.count(errorMetric, (window.ue.count(errorMetric) || 0) + 1); } modalInstance.update(' ' + "Error loading ad feedback form." + ' '); } }); return modalInstance; } function removeModalOnClose (modalName) { A.on('a:popover:afterHide:' + modalName, function removeModal () { AM.remove(modalName); }); } function generatePayload(modalName) { var carousel = CF.getCarousel(document.getElementById("sp_detail")); var EMPTY_CARD_CLASS = "a-carousel-card-empty"; if (!carousel) { return; } var adPlacementMetaData = carousel.dom.$carousel.context.getAttribute("data-ad-placement-metadata"); var adDetailsList = []; if (adPlacementMetaData == "") { return; } carousel.dom.$carousel.children("li").not("." + EMPTY_CARD_CLASS).each(function (idx, item) { var divs = item.getElementsByTagName("div"); var adFeedbackDetails; for (var i = 0; i

The Emptiness of Our Hands: 47 Days on the Streets

Editorial Reviews

About the author.

ckson /f Irene /i V. /r ed.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Praeger; First Edition (July 24, 1985)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 204 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0313230935
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0274913138
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.56 x 8.5 inches
  • #4,053 in Folk & Traditional Music (Books)
  • #7,187 in Music (Books)
  • #8,367 in Religious & Sacred Music (Books)

About the authors

Irene v. jackson.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Irene Jackson-Brown

From early childhood on, Irene was pegged as "gifted," academically and creatively. Born in Washington, D.C. Irene grew up as her parent’s only child. Her father's three siblings had no children of their own. Together, they all provided Irene with a secure upbringing.

Irene excelled academically, eventually earning a Ph.D. Her first full-time teaching appointment was at Yale. "You are one of the first pregnant female faculty, if not the first," she was told by one of the physicians at Yale's health center. Being black, young, pregnant, and married in "maledom" during the early 70s was tough, but it underscored the grit that she already had. After all, it was her high school music teacher who told her father, "Irene can do or be anything she wants to do or do."

After a stint at Yale and Howard University, her alma mater, she turned from academe, greatly disillusioned. She was tapped as one of the first black female professionals at the Episcopal Church's headquarters. She researched and edited the Episcopal Church’s seminal t hymnal, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a collection of religious songs associated with the African-American worship tradition. She had a tenure at the Church’s headquarters for nearly twenty years until 1997. Another notable achievement during a sabbatical from the Church Center was her selection as a research fellow at the Institute of Sacred Music, Worship, and the Arts in 1991-1992.

With her mother’s death in 1992, followed by her father’s cancer diagnosis which left him paralyzed, she began an unintended journey as a family caregiver and later as a senior-servig professional

Products related to this item .sp_detail2_sponsored_label { color: #555555; font-size: 11px; } .sp_detail2_info_icon { width: 11px; vertical-align: text-bottom; fill: #969696; } .sp_info_link { text-decoration:none !important; } #sp_detail2_hide_feedback_string { display: none; } .sp_detail2_sponsored_label:hover { color: #111111; } .sp_detail2_sponsored_label:hover .sp_detail2_info_icon { fill: #555555; } Sponsored (function(f) {var _np=(window.P._namespace("FirebirdSpRendering"));if(_np.guardFatal){_np.guardFatal(f)(_np);}else{f(_np);}}(function(P) { P.when("A", "a-carousel-framework", "a-modal").execute(function(A, CF, AM) { var DESKTOP_METRIC_PREFIX = 'adFeedback:desktop:multiAsinAF:sp_detail2'; A.declarative('sp_detail2_feedback-action', 'click', function(event) { var MODAL_NAME_PREFIX = 'multi_af_modal_'; var MODAL_CLASS_PREFIX = 'multi-af-modal-'; var BASE_16 = 16; var UID_START_INDEX = 2; var uniqueIdentifier = Math.random().toString(BASE_16).substr(UID_START_INDEX); var modalName = MODAL_NAME_PREFIX + "sp_detail2" + uniqueIdentifier; var modalClass = MODAL_CLASS_PREFIX + "sp_detail2" + uniqueIdentifier; initModal(modalName, modalClass); removeModalOnClose(modalName); }); function initModal (modalName, modalClass) { var trigger = A.$(' '); var initialContent = ' ' + ' ' + ' '; var HEADER_STRING = "Leave feedback"; if (false) { HEADER_STRING = "Ad information and options"; } var modalInstance = AM.create(trigger, { 'content': initialContent, 'header': HEADER_STRING, 'name': modalName }); modalInstance.show(); var serializedPayload = generatePayload(modalName); A.$.ajax({ url: "/af/multi-creative/feedback-form", type: 'POST', data: serializedPayload, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'application/json'}, success: function(response) { if (!response) { return; } modalInstance.update(response); var successMetric = DESKTOP_METRIC_PREFIX + ":formDisplayed"; if (window.ue && window.ue.count) { window.ue.count(successMetric, (window.ue.count(successMetric) || 0) + 1); } }, error: function(err) { var errorText = 'Feedback Form get failed with error: ' + err; var errorMetric = DESKTOP_METRIC_PREFIX + ':error'; P.log(errorText, 'FATAL', DESKTOP_METRIC_PREFIX); if (window.ue && window.ue.count) { window.ue.count(errorMetric, (window.ue.count(errorMetric) || 0) + 1); } modalInstance.update(' ' + "Error loading ad feedback form." + ' '); } }); return modalInstance; } function removeModalOnClose (modalName) { A.on('a:popover:afterHide:' + modalName, function removeModal () { AM.remove(modalName); }); } function generatePayload(modalName) { var carousel = CF.getCarousel(document.getElementById("sp_detail2")); var EMPTY_CARD_CLASS = "a-carousel-card-empty"; if (!carousel) { return; } var adPlacementMetaData = carousel.dom.$carousel.context.getAttribute("data-ad-placement-metadata"); var adDetailsList = []; if (adPlacementMetaData == "") { return; } carousel.dom.$carousel.children("li").not("." + EMPTY_CARD_CLASS).each(function (idx, item) { var divs = item.getElementsByTagName("div"); var adFeedbackDetails; for (var i = 0; i

A Touch of Elegance: The DIY Conservatory Creation: Bringing the Outdoors In: A Step-by-Step Journey from Foundation to Finishing (DIY Conversions and ... Development For the Modern Home)

Customer reviews

5 star 0%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

No customer reviews

  • About Amazon
  • Investor Relations
  • Amazon Devices
  • Amazon Science
  • Sell products on Amazon
  • Sell on Amazon Business
  • Sell apps on Amazon
  • Become an Affiliate
  • Advertise Your Products
  • Self-Publish with Us
  • Host an Amazon Hub
  • › See More Make Money with Us
  • Amazon Business Card
  • Shop with Points
  • Reload Your Balance
  • Amazon Currency Converter
  • Amazon and COVID-19
  • Your Account
  • Your Orders
  • Shipping Rates & Policies
  • Returns & Replacements
  • Manage Your Content and Devices
 
 
 
   
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Notice
  • Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices

essay about afro latin american music

essay about afro latin american music

Afro-Latinidad: The celebration of a multifaceted identity

By Viviana López Green, Senior Director, Racial Equity Initiative, UnidosUS

Black History Month is an opportunity to be reminded of the beautiful, complex, multi-layered, and diverse nature of the Black experience in the United States. Afro-Latinos, with their unique voices and perspectives, are an essential and vibrant group in the makeup of the Hispanic and Black American identity. From writers to social innovators, from performers to musicians, from cultural icons to scholars: La Afrolatinidad está presente!

This year, UnidosUS wanted to showcase the ingenuity, varied perspectives, and contributions from Afro-Latinos to our country’s social fabric and culture. The list compiles some known and some upcoming names in Afro-Latino literature, poetry, dance, social theory, and more.

May this list be an invitation to keep learning about the Black experience in the United States throughout the entire year!

Literature and Poetry

My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter: This collection of poems by Aja Monet is described by its publisher as “an ode to mothers, daughters, and sisters—the tiny gods who fight to change the world.” These powerful poems deal with racism, sexism, grief, motherhood, hope and the power of love. Monet is a Cuban-Jamaican American poet, performer, and educator from Brooklyn, who lives in Little Haiti, Miami. She has been awarded the Andrea Klein Willison Prize for Poetry and the Nuyorican Poet’s Café Grand Slam title, as well as the New York City YWCA’s “One to Watch Award.”

Young Readers

Island Born : Junot Díaz’s compelling children’s picture book centers the life of Lola, a young immigrant Afro-Latina girl who discovers her curiosity about the island she was born, after being assigned a school project about her origins in a class full of students born elsewhere. The teachers asked the students to draw where they are from. Many of the kids drew pyramids and mongoose, but Lola didn’t know what to draw because she left her unidentified island as a baby. Lola raises her hand and asks the teacher what to do when you can’t remember where you’re from. The teacher responds by asking her if she knew people that remembered the island. “Like my whole neighborhood!” Lola responds. “And they’re always talking about the island.” The illustrator Luis Espinosa provided bright and colorful images of Dominican flags, the island of Hispaniola, and a community of people listening to music, cooking, and taking moto-taxis. This heartfelt story is a perfect opportunity to focus on heritage and conversations around home and community.

The Poet X . Afro-Latina author and spoken word artist Elizabeth Acevedo offers us a beautiful novel in verse titled The Poet X . The novel is told from the journal of its protagonist Xiomara, who is a New York teen struggling to find her voice. She struggles to speak up about her doubts in her mother’s Catholic faith and to find a way to express her experiences in love, friendship, and family. Xiomara joins her high school’s slam poetry club and begins to find her voice and a new identity for herself in the world. You can find Acevedo’s book in audio form being read by her in the style of spoken-word poetry performance. Teens and adults alike will find this to be a quick and absorbing read, as Xiomara takes them into the feelings she experiences as she moves between home, the school, and the church.

Afro-Latino Studies

The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States : According to Duke University Press, this work offers insight into Afro-Latino life and new ways to understand culture, ethnicity, nation, identity, and antiracist politics, and presents “a kaleidoscopic view of Black Latinos in the United States.” It addresses history, music, gender, class, and media representations in more than 60 selections, including scholarly essays, memoirs, newspaper and magazine articles, poetry, short stories, and interviews. This seminal work in the field of Afro-Latino studies was co-edited by Miriam Jiménez Román and Juan Flores.

Locked In, Locked Out: Gated Communities in a Puerto Rican City : This ethnographic work by Zaire Zenit Dinzey-Flores , Associate Professor in Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies and Sociology, was the winner of the 2014 Robert E. Park Award from the American Sociological Association. In the words of the Afro-Latino writer Junot Diaz, this work is “an elegant, unflinching dissection of the way gated housing in Puerto Rican communities produce and reinforce the symbolic and physical inequalities of our neoliberal era. In this far-ranging and original work, Dinzey-Flores maps out the zones of exclusion that are proliferating throughout our built spaces and which threaten our communal future.”

Afro-Latinos in the U. S. Economy : As the book’s description states, “very little research has been disseminated in the field of economics on the contributions of Afro-Latinos regarding income and wealth, labor market status, occupational mobility, and educational attainment.” Afro-Latinos in the U.S. Economy aims to contribute to fill that gap by outlining the current position and status of Afro-Latinos in the economy of the United States. The book was co-edited by Michelle Holder and Alan A. Aja.

Reggaeton : This work brings critical perspectives on a popular music genre that has turned into a global phenomenon. Journalists, scholars, and artists delve into reggaeton’s local roots and its transnational dissemination. According to Duke University Press, “they examine the genre’s aesthetics and explore the debates about race, nation, gender, and sexuality generated by the music and its associated cultural practices, from dance to fashion.” The book was co-edited by Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, and Deborah Pacini Hernandez.

Performing Arts

How I Made It: Ayodele Casel (Podcast): Casel does it all. She is an actor, tap dancer, choreographer, and champion of arts education. Her impressive list of awards includes the 2017 Hoofer Award and the 2018 Artsmith Transcendence Award. She was selected to represent City Center On the Move 2019, where she shared her work “Rooted” and engaged with New York City communities. Casel was also the 2018–2019 dance artist-in-residence at Harvard University . She has been hailed by the legendary Gregory Hines as “one of the top young tap dancers in the world” and by the New York Times as “a tap dancer of unquestionable radiance.” In this “How I Made It” Latino USA episode, Ayodele Casel takes us through her life and career and how she reclaims tap dancing as a Black art form.

Media and Popular Culture

Sonia Manzano: The Power of Writing (Podcast): You may remember Manzano as María in Sesame Street, but you probably do not know that she has been awarded 15 Emmys for television writing, and has authored several children books. After retiring from her more than four-decade career on Sesame Street, Sonia is back with an animated show on PBS Kids, Alma’s Way . In this Latino USA episode, Sonia talks about this beautiful TV project and “how she is drawing from her childhood memories in the Bronx to affirm to the children of today that the way each of them looks at the world is valid.”

A Spoken History Of The Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Podcast): In this episode of Latino USA, several artists offer a spoken history of the legendary cafe. Poet Jesús “Paopleto” Meléndez, the Bronx poet Caridad De La Luz, -known as “La Bruja,” playwright Ishmael Reed, and artist and archivist Lois Elaine Griffith reminiscence anecdotes, stories and events, and remind us about “the café’s legacy of fostering Black and Latinx talent on and off stage” and “the importance of preserving the Nuyorican history for future generations.”

Music, Video, and Film

AfroLatinos: An Untaught History : AfroLatinos is a documentary television series that illustrates the history and celebrates the rich culture of people in Latin America of African descent. The film chronicles the trans-Atlantic slave trade, as well as the race identity issues that continue to exist in the Hispanic community today. The film is directed by Emmy Award winning television producer Renzo Devia, and produced by the playwright, speaker, and activist Alicia Anabel Santos. Both aimed to empower more than 200 million Afro-descendants in Latin America by telling them their “untaught history,” while initiating a dialogue to dismantle systemic racism and promote social change. This documentary film has been an official selection at the Pan African Film Festival and the New York International Latino Film Festival.

The Last Mambo : This documentary film explores the Salsa/Latin Jazz community in the San Francisco Bay area, seen from the diverse perspectives of dancers, DJs, and musicians. According to the film’s web site, it traces the 60+ year evolution of the West Coast Latin sound, “a potent gumbo of Afrocuban rhythms, jazz harmonies and funk infused grooves.” The documentary highlights the cultural, economic, and social forces that impact this artistic community and shape the future of the art form. The Last Mambo brings together interviews, archival material, photographs, and concert footage that capture the pulse of this creative collective. Directed by Rita Hargrave. Organizations can request a screening event of the film, through their website .

Conversations on Afro-Latinidad

The Afro-Latinx Experience Is Essential To Our International Reckoning On Race (Podcast): This Alt.Latino podcast, produced by NPR, is a conversation about how the Afro-Latinx community is often left out of national discussions about Blackness. Petra Rivera-Rideua of Wellesley College, Omaris Z. Zamora of Rutgers, and NPR publicist Anaïs Laurent, navigate through layers of complexities in this conversation and share knowledge on the Afro-Latinx culture and reggaeton. The episode ends with an interview with Dominican musician and novelist Rita Indiana discussing Afro-Caribbean Blackness and discrimination (en español ).

A Family Conversation On Race And Latinidad (Podcast): In this Latino USA podcast, two Afro-Latinx cousins meet to talk. Umar Williams, who is a musician and radio host living in the Twin Cities, and Alexander Newton, a strategy and analytics consultant who lives in Washington, DC. Both cousins share their experiences with racism, the unique struggles faced by Black Latinos, and what it meant to “grow up in a family that taught them that ‘Black is beautiful.’”

Alzheimer’s in Color (Podcast): This podcast aired in September 2020, a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic began. The story of an 84-year-old Dominican immigrant living in the Bronx, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, reveals some of the unique and pressing challenges that Black American and Latinx communities face. The “intimate portrait” is told by her daughter, “who takes us through her and her mother’s Alzheimer’s journey, and the value of memories in keeping those we love alive.”

These Afro-Latino Actors Are Pushing Back Against Erasure in Hollywood (Article & Video): “But while there are millions of Afro-Latinos around the world, they are chronically misunderstood and underrepresented. Across Latin America, they are marginalized and discriminated against. In the United States, they are less likely to go to college and are more likely to have a lower family income than other Latinos. In terms of representation, almost all of the biggest Latina entertainment stars—including Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara, and Salma Hayek—are fair-skinned, as gatekeepers perpetuate a narrow image of what it means to ‘look Latina.’ Afro-Latino actors are consistently shut out of roles because they don’t match that image—and when they are cast, it’s even rarer that they get to play Afro-Latino characters, instead playing characters who are Black or mixed-race but not Latino.” This article was published in TIME magazine. Written by Andrew R. Chow. Video by Jenna Caldwell, Erica Solano.

Social Innovation

Carolina Contreras, “Miss Rizos” : Miss Rizos works to eradicate the discrimination against natural curly hair of Afro-descendant populations as a means of addressing broader issues related to race and color. Carolina Contreras, the woman behind this project, is an Ashoka Fellow . According to her profile page in Ashoka’s website, “the novelty and effectiveness of Carolina’s approach stem from having found a simple and accessible channel–namely, hair—through which people can more easily grapple with a problem as complex as systemic racism. Toward these aims, Carolina empowers women and girls through pioneering all-curly hair salons in Santo Domingo and New York City, workshops, and an influential social media presence.”

AFROSAYA The Afro Latino Podcast : Alex Gutiérrez-Duncan lives in Sacramento, CA, and is a high school Spanish teacher. He independently produces a podcast that focuses on Afro-Latino issues, news, and culture, titled Afrosaya . Alex has worked with Black communities in Latin America for more than 12 years. The podcast is produced in English and in Spanish, and Gutiérrez-Duncan advocates for access to education, health, and justice for all. Occasionally, he is joined by guest speakers who share their personal stories and joy. His work is aimed towards the larger goal of inclusion of the Afro-Latino community, as he believes “visibility leads to representation and representation leads to inclusion.”

Other Posts by UnidosUS on Afro-Latinidad

Celebrate the Afro-Latino Voices with UnidosUS Reading List

Afro-Cuban History Plays an Integral Role in Black and Latino History in the Americas. Here Are Some Educational Resources

Six Afro-Latino/a/x Books Young Readers Should Add to Their Collection

A Garifuna Arts and Culture Promoter Considers How Kwanzaa Can Bridge Her Latinx and Belizean Kin

You might also be interested in:

Afro-latinos: bridging communities.

Civil Rights

Afro-Latino Family

“Afro-Latino is, at the personal level, a unique and  distinctive experience and identity, ranging as it does among and between Latino, Black and U.S. American dimensions of lived social reality. In their […]

A Mosaic Called Afro-Latinidad

essay about afro latin american music

By Viviana Lopez Green Senior Director, Racial Equity Initiative Black History Month lends the opportunity to recognize the intersection between the Black and the Latino experience. As we honor Black […]

Celebrate Afro-Latino voices with the UnidosUS reading list

essay about afro latin american music

As Black History Month draws to a close, it’s important to remember that celebrating Black history and Black voices as well as making sure that we stay informed goes beyond […]

  • Library of Congress
  • Research Guides

Latinx Studies: Library of Congress Resources

Afro-latinx bibliography.

  • Introduction
  • Collections and Resources
  • Books, Journals, Newspapers
  • Databases and External Websites
  • Research Strategies
  • National Hispanic Heritage Month
  • Using the Library of Congress

Authors: Nathalie Garcia, Volunteer, Hispanic Section, Latin American, Caribbean, and European Division, through the University of Notre Dame's Cross Cultural Leadership Program

Editors: Maria Daniela (Dani) Thurber, Reference Librarian, Hispanic Section, Latin American, Caribbean, and European Division

Created: June 2021

Last Updated: July 2021

Caribbean, Iberian & Latin American Studies : Ask a Librarian

Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.

Haga su pregunta .

Faça a sua pergunta .

Welcome to the Afro-Latinx bibliography! This research guide highlights some of the remarkable individuals who live in the often overlooked intersection of Blackness and Latinidad. Afro-Latinx folks are those who identify their ethnicity as Latino and their race as black, as there are millions of descendants of the African diaspora who make up our Latin American and Latinx communities. This guide highlights folks who excel in their endeavors specifically through Activism, Poetry and Literature, Art and Performance, and Sports. 

What does it mean to be Afro-Latinx?  The term Afro-Latinx (or Afro-Latino, -Latina, or -Latine) refers to individuals of Latin America or of Latin American descent who are also of African ancestry. For Afro-Latinx folks in the United States, the added identity of living as an American further complicates their sense of identity, creating the sense that their distinct racial, ethnic, and national identities struggle to coexist. As  The Afro-Latin@ Reader  paraphrased from  The Souls of Black Folks: 

"One feels his three-ness, -- a Latin@, a Negro, an American; three souls, three thoughts, three unreconciled strivings; three warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asuder." 

Why Identify as Afro-Latinx?  The term Afro-Latinx brings visibility to Latinos who are Black, as descendants of the African diaspora. Many people believe that the two identities are mutually exclsuive, when in reality Latinx is an ethnic identity while Black is a racial identity. This term more accurately captures this identity by embracing both simultaneously. The individuals who fall under this identity are as diverse as Latin America itself, represented by a wide variety of cultures, skin tones, hair textures, and traditions. 

View the bibliography below for more information and internal resources on Reference Works, Activism, Artists and Performers, Literature and Poetry, Sports, and Younger Readers pertaining to Afro-Latinx culture and figures. 

essay about afro latin american music

[Celia Cruz, full-length portrait, facing front, on stage]

essay about afro latin american music

Jessica Sabogal's Women are perfect

essay about afro latin american music

Roberto Clemente, outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates

The following bibliography provides an introduction to Afro-Latinx Studies, containing selected works from the Library's collections. Most of the books below link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog and can help you learn more about relevant topics and serve as a jumping-off point for further research.

  • General Works
  • Artists and Performers
  • Poetry and Literature
  • Younger Readers

This bibliography provides an overview of Afro-Latinx issues and identity, ranging from racial socialization and cultural expression to economic impact and decolonization. 

Cover Art

External Resources

  • Black History Month Resources: Afro-Latinx Resources External Research Guide from the University of Nevada Las Vegas libraries with Afro-Latinx resources.
  • Afro-Latino: A deeply rooted identity among U.S. Hispanics External Pew Research Center

Where there is civil unrest and turmoil, there is activism and leadership. The works below highlight outspoken individuals in their bold advocacy, as well as numerous stories of the struggle for Black liberation across Latin America, from the mainlands to the Caribbean. 

Cover Art

Afro-Latinx culture has produced a richness of rhythm and expression. This bibliography focuses on the diverse forms of visual and musical arts produced by Afro diasporic creators. 

Cover Art

This bibliography gives visibility to Afro-Latinx expressions by showcasing Black Latino voices in a range of disciplines. Featured below are works by and about Afro-Latinx folks in variety of forms, including research, poetic verse, magical realism, realistic fiction, and fantasy adventure. 

Cover Art

This bibliography provides insight on the Afro-Latinx community's role in sports, from baseball stardom to Olympic feats. 

Cover Art

The following bibliography of Children’s, Middle Grade, and Young Adult works display the myriad and complexities of the Afro-Latinx experience for younger readers.

To learn more about the Library's programs for younger readers, Visit the Young Reader's Center website .

Cover Art

  • Social Justice Books Afro-Latinx Titles Booklist External A booklist of elementary, middle, and high school age works curated by Teaching for Change.
  • Latinos in Kid Lit: 12 Afro-Latinx Kid Lit Creators You Can Support Right Now External A spotlight on Afro-Latinx creators contributing to the world of children's literature.
  • << Previous: Books, Journals, Newspapers
  • Next: Databases and External Websites >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 17, 2024 4:01 PM
  • URL: https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-studies
  • Harvard Library
  • Research Guides
  • Faculty of Arts & Sciences Libraries

Library Research Guide for Latin American Studies

Afro-latin american.

  • HOLLIS & WorldCat
  • Translations

Document Collections

Bibliographies

  • Periodical Indexes
  • News Sources
  • Archives and Manuscripts
  • Government Documents
  • Travel/Exploration
  • Immigration
  • Public Opinion
  • Gender Studies
  • Economics/Labor
  • Other Primary Sources Types
  • Secondary Sources
  • Reference Sources
  • Citing Sources & Organizing Research

Searching in HOLLIS

Searching for books on a particular subject is facilitated by a system of standardized Subject terms.  For each topic recognized by the Library of Congress, a Subject term is assigned which occurs on all books about that topic. Thus, books with “slave revolts”, slave rebellions” or “slave uprisings” in their titles will all be retrieved by a search on the Subject term: Slave insurrections. Thus, finding out the subject term for a particular topic should help you conduct a more comprehensive search for that topic.

In order to find out what the relevant subject term for a topic is, enter likely keywords into the HOLLIS search. Open the records for items that appear to be on your topic and find out what subject terms are listed in their records. . For example, searching "Afro Latin" yields

Afro-Latin America : Black Lives, 1600-2000 , by George Reid Andrews. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2016, 123 pages Subjects Black people -- Latin America Black people -- Race identity -- Latin America Racism -- Latin America Racially mixed people -- Latin America Latin America -- Race relations HOLLIS Record

From this record, we find that the subject term for Afro-Latin Americans is “Black people – Latin America”. The other subject terms in the record are also useful to note, as searches for these terms may bring up items related to Afro-Latin Americans as well.

Under Refine my results: Subject on the right of the results list there are more main terms (Africans) to try, but not the terms after the dashes ( -- Race identity) which are called subdivisions.  NOTE: If you hit one of the terms in this Subject list, HOLLIS will find records with the term, say  Africans , only on records in the set originally formed by searching "Afro Latin" .

A complete search for Afro-Latin Americans would be of the form:

Subject contains: "Black people" OR Africans OR "Racially mixed people" AND "South America" OR "Central America" OR "Latin America" OR Caribbean OR "West Indies" OR Mexico OR Peru OR Cuba OR …   [Remove unneeded regions and add countries according to your interest]

Redo your search using the terms that HOLLIS uses.    Also, go to Starts with.../Browse (top black band) and put in Black people -- Latin America , adjusting to Browse by Subject.  This is very useful in breaking down a large subject and in giving you more subdivisions, which can be applied to other Subject terms, to search. 

Whenever you have a reference to a useful book, look it up in HOLLIS and see what the Subject terms are.

Background and Context

Routledge handbook of Afro-Latin American studies, edited by Bernd Reiter and John Antón Sánchez. New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2023.  1 online resource ( xxxix, 640 pages) HOLLIS Record

Dictionary of Afro-Latin American civilization, by Benjamín Núñez. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1980, 525 p.  Latin America -- Civilization -- African influences -- Dictionaries Caribbean Area -- Civilization -- African influences -- Dictionaries HOLLIS Record Internet Archive Full Text

Afro-Latin American studies : an introduction, edited by Alejandro de la Fuente, George Reid Andrews. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2018. 1 online resource (xx, 641 pages) : digital, PDF file(s). HOLLIS Record

Encyclopedia of diasporas : immigrant and refugee cultures around the world

Race Relations Abstracts , 1975- .

Sometimes you can find a bibliography, a publication that lists other publications, on your subject. Search in  HOLLIS  with the word Bibliography as a Subject keyword search (It needs to be Subject keyword, NOT Keywords anywhere) :  Race AND "Latin America" AND bibliography.  You can use Keywords anywhere for your other keywords in Advanced search.  Browsing a bibliography offers a different experience from database searching with keywords.

For example, "Black people" Mexico; and bibliography.

Oxford Bibliographies. Latin American Studies  offers numerous annotated bibliographies of secondary sources. These include:

  • Andean Contributions to Rethinking the State and the Nation
  • Antislavery Narratives
  • The Black Experience in Colonial Latin America
  • The Black Experience in Modern Latin America
  • Photography in the History of Race and Nation

Black Latin America: a bibliography. Los Angeles: Latin American Studies Center, California State University, 1977, 73 p. HOLLIS Record

Afro-American folk culture: an annotated bibliography of materials from North, Central, and South America, and the West Indies, by John F. Szwed et al. Philadelphia : Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1978. 2 v. HOLLIS Record --pt. 1. North America.--pt. 2. The West Indies, Central, and South America.

A bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America, by Monroe N. Work. Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Fine Books, 1998, 698 p. HOLLIS Records

Indígenas y negros en Colombia: bibliografía monográfica, by J. Noé Herrera. Bogotá, DC: Libros de Colombia, 2003, 404 leaves. HOLLIS Record

História da escravidão e da liberdade no Brasil meridional: guia bibliográfico, by Regina Célia Lima Xavier et al. Porto Alegre, RS: UFRGS Editora, 2007, 391 p. HOLLIS Record

Race and ethnic relations in Latin America and the Caribbean : an historical dictionary and bibliography , by Robert M. Levine.  Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1980, 252 p. HOLLIS Record

To find document collections in HOLLIS  Advanced Search, search Subject : (Slavery Brazil) AND (sources OR diaries OR narratives OR correspondence) .

African Diaspora, 1860-Present  offers personal papers, organizational papers, journals, newsletters, court documents, letters, and ephemera, etc. from African diasporic communities largely in the Caribbean, Brazil, India, United Kingdom, and France.

Slave Societies Digital Archive  includes digitized ecclesiastical and secular documents related to African-descended peoples in Brazil, Colombia and Cuba. Largely Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries.

Regulación de la esclavitud negra en las colonias de América Española (1503-1886): documentos para su estudio / Manuel Lucena Salmoral. Alcalá de Henares, Madrid: Universidad de Alcalá; Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, 2005, 440 p. + 1 CD-ROM HOLLIS Record

Escravos e senhores de Bragança: documentos históricos do século XIX: região Bragantina, Pará, ed. by Edna Castro et al. Belém, Pará: Núcleo de Altos Estudos Amazônicos, 2006, 226 p. Subjects: Slavery -- Brazil -- Bragança (Pará) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources Black people -- Brazil -- Bragança (Pará) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources Bragança (Pará, Brazil) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources HOLLIS Record

Textos de negros e sobre negros, ed. by Emanoel Araújo. São Paulo: Impr. Oficial : Museu Afrobrasil : Governo do Estado de São Paulo, 2011, 244 p. Subjects: Black people -- Brazil -- History -- Sources Black people -- Brazil -- Literary collections Black people -- Brazil -- Social life and customs Brazilian literature -- Black authors HOLLIS Record

For general Latin American biograph y.

Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography . NY : Oxford University Press,  2016, 6 v. Online Versio

Quem é quem na negritude brasileira. [São Paulo : Congresso Nacional Afro-Brasileiro; Brasilia: Secretaria Nacional de Dereitos Humanos do Ministerio da Justica, 1998- .  HOLLIS Record --Alphabetical by first name.  Indexes by state and profession. List of included women. Terminal bibliography. 1st ed.

  • << Previous: Home
  • Next: HOLLIS & WorldCat >>
  • Last Updated: Jun 20, 2024 9:10 PM
  • URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/latinamericanstudies

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

COMMENTS

  1. A Century and a Half of Scholarship on Afro-Latin American Music

    It continues with commentary on early studies of Afro-Latin American music by researchers such as Fernando Ortiz and Mário de Andrade, who came to understand Afro-Latin American heritage as valuable and studied it as part of projects of nation-building. ... Review-Essay." Latin American Music Review 23, 2: 235-51. 2002b. "Bridging South ...

  2. Afro-Latin Music and Dancing: Rumba, Chamame Genre, Salsa Essay

    The current essay deals with Afro-Latin music and dancing as the reflection of unique social and cultural values and conditions of Latin American people of African origin. Their cultural contribution to dance and ethnic music is immense and reveals some important traits of Latin cultural, religious, political and social experiences.

  3. Afro Latino Music: Reimagining Songs Rooted In The Slave Trade

    Afro Latino music is on the rise in Latin America. The music has roots in the slave trade, but artists are putting a modern spin on old songs. Host Michel Martin hears more from AltLatino's Felix ...

  4. Exploring the Influence of African Rhythms on Contemporary Latin

    The essay will start by discussing the historical background of African rhythms in Latin America, followed by examples of how these rhythms have influenced Latin American music today. The essay will conclude by highlighting the importance of preserving the rich heritage of African rhythms in Latin American music.

  5. Exploring the Influences of African Music on Latin American Music

    This essay will explore the influences of African music on Latin American music and highlight some of the unique musical styles that have emerged as a result. The African Influence on Latin American Music. The African influence on Latin American music can be traced back to the 15th century, when African slaves were first brought over to the region.

  6. Rhythms of Resilience: The Enduring Legacy of Afro-Latina Musicians in

    If you were to ask the average American to name a notable Afro-Latina musician who has made significant contributions to American music, Celia Cruz would likely come to mind. However, despite the profound impact that Black women from Latin America have had on American music, this fact remains largely unknown to most Americans.

  7. For Black History Month, Celebrate Afro-Latino Music With ...

    Musicians throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. make this a living, breathing document of where we come from and who we are today. Alt.Latino's Afro-Latino Mixtape Listen · 32:53 32:53

  8. A Century and a Half of Scholarship on Afro-Latin American Music

    Afro-Latin American Studies - April 2018. Last updated 20/06/24: Online ordering is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We apologise for any delays responding to customers while we resolve this. ... " Recent Studies of Brazilian Music: Review-Essay." Latin American Music Review 23, 2: 235-51.Google Scholar. Béhague, Gerard ...

  9. Afro-Latin America

    About Afro-Latin America. This series reflects the coming of age of the new, multidisciplinary field of Afro-Latin American studies, which centers on the histories, cultures, and experiences of people of African descent in Latin America. The series aims to showcase scholarship produced by different disciplines, including history, political ...

  10. More Than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and

    Except for the first two essays by two pioneers in American ethnomusicology, Bruno Netti and Mantle Hood, the remaining eight chapters are by young scholars of African and African-derived music. The editor explains that her goal is to provide the scholarly community with a collection of ethnomusicological essays covering Africa and the Afro ...

  11. Latin Music Erases The Black Origins of Many Genres

    For the late Mario Bauzá, one of the founders of Black Cuban jazz, the term " Latin jazz " erased a key aspect of his music. "What is Latin?" he continued, during a CACE International TV ...

  12. Afro-Latin American Music

    The document outlines a curriculum for Afro-Latin American and popular music. It covers characteristic features, performance standards, and learning competencies related to observing, describing, listening to, dancing to, analyzing, singing, exploring sounds, improvising, and evaluating various Afro-Latin American and popular music genres from Africa and Latin America.

  13. More Than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and

    More Than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and Musicians Irene V. Jackson Bloomsbury Academic , Jul 24, 1985 - Social Science - 204 pages

  14. The Musical Tradition in Latin America

    Introduction. Music is an important part of understanding the history and people of Latin America. The musical diversity and complexity of Latin America is extraordinary, having developed over centuries as the product of cultural exchange. Prior to European contact, native groups incorporated music and dance as integral parts of daily life, in ...

  15. Afro-Latinos: Shaping the American story

    Nevertheless, as D.C. AfroLatino Caucus founder Manuel Méndez points out, the world would not be the same without prominent Afro-Cuban musicians like Mario Bauza. And no one can forget Johnny Pacheco, the Dominican-American music legend who co-founded Fania Records in the 1960s and helped create the genre of music known today as salsa.

  16. HL90CQ: Afro-Latin American Cultures: Race, Religion, Music, and

    Instructor: Rebecca A. Kennedy de LorenziniMeeting time: Wednesday, 12:45 - 2:45 This course will explore the history of Afro-Latin American culture as expressed through literature, music, dance, and religious and spiritual practices. Beginning with an analysis of the theoretical framework of the African diaspora, we will ask central questions around how and why African heritage has been ...

  17. Afro latin american studies introduction

    Organized by topic, these essays synthesize and present the current state of knowledge on a broad variety of topics, including Afro-Latin American music, religions, literature, art history, political thought, social movements, legal history, environmental history, and ideologies of racial inclusion. ... A century and a half of scholarship on ...

  18. More Than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and

    ?This delightful collection of essays is one of a pair of books that grew out of a 1978 symposium on African and Afro-American music sponsored by the Center for Ethnic Music at Howard University. This particular volume includes ten essays on African, Black South American (specifically Brazilian), and Afro-Latin music cultures.

  19. Afro-Latinidad: The celebration of a multifaceted identity

    Music, Video, and Film. AfroLatinos: An Untaught History: AfroLatinos is a documentary television series that illustrates the history and celebrates the rich culture of people in Latin America of African descent. The film chronicles the trans-Atlantic slave trade, as well as the race identity issues that continue to exist in the Hispanic ...

  20. Afro-Latinx Bibliography

    Organized by topic, these essays synthesize and present the current state of knowledge on a broad variety of topics, including Afro-Latin American music, religions, literature, art history, political thought, social movements, legal history, environmental history, and ideologies of racial inclusion.

  21. Afro-Latin American

    Afro-Latin American studies : an introduction, edited by Alejandro de la Fuente, George Reid Andrews. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2018. 1 online resource (xx, 641 pages) : digital, PDF file(s). ... 1860-Present offers personal papers, organizational papers, journals, newsletters, court documents, letters, and ephemera, ...

  22. Latin American Music Essay

    Latin American Music Essay. 1962 Words8 Pages. In this essay I will be talking about Latin American Music and Harps. I will discuss the different regional styles of music, styles of harps and also some of the popular styles such as the Salsa, Tejango and the Latin ballid. I will also be discussing the composer Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla.

  23. Free Essay: Latin American Music

    Rumba is a type of medium-to-fast polyrhythmic Afro-Cuban song and dance, with a three-part form of introduction, improvised verses, and repetitive call-and-response. It is typically accompanied by 2 to 3 conga drums and sticks. This structure has been adapted for Cuban popular music ensembles.