Attendees will learn about the centrality of New York City to the African Diaspora, since it was the center of Hispanic Caribbean immigration for much of the twentieth century. Historical figures such as Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, Pura Belpré, and Langston Hughes embody the origins of the best-known Afro-Hispanic connections in the city. The Civil Rights and Black Power Movements inspired author Piri Thomas and the Young Lords Party, and Afro-Puerto Ricans like author Marta Moreno Vega have created a new, self-aware notion of Afro-Latinidad in the United States and throughout Latin America. A similar notion of the diaspora gained worldwide attention with the 2000 United Nations Declaration of African Descendants in Santiago de Chile. Today, Spanish teachers and students worldwide will benefit from a more complete understanding of the Americas’ literature and culture through the inclusion of Afro-descendant people, products, and practices at all levels of instruction.

Presenters:

John T. Maddox IV, Associate Professor of Spanish and African American Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

**Note: This presentation will be hosted on the Zoom platform. Please look out for a follow-up email that will include the meeting link for this session.