Nicole Ramsey's "Unruly Diasporas" (Small Axe, 2024) examines how memory and diasporic community formation serve as tools for Afro-Belizeans in the United States to preserve their histories amid colonial and postcolonial contexts and natural disasters. Utilizing autoethnography and testimonials from Belizean women, it explores the role of memory and placemaking within the broader context of Caribbean and Central American migration. Focusing on the Belizean exodus following Hurricane Hattie in 1961, this essay also highlights the displacement and exile of Black migrants and examines the visibility, erasure, and transnational presence of the Belizean community in Los Angeles shaped by environmental challenges. It underscores the critical role of oral histories in capturing Black Belizeans’ experiences, especially given the limited archival records owing to regional erasure. The author emphasizes the importance of centering and preserving counternarratives that challenge marginalization, offering insights into the ongoing exclusion and sociocultural challenges faced by the Belizean community.
The Afro-Antillean Museum of Panama, located in a former Methodist church in Panama City, is dedicated to preserving the history, culture, and contributions of Afro-Caribbean communities in Panama. The museum focuses especially on the thousands of workers from the English-speaking Caribbean who migrated to build the Panama Canal and railroad. Through historical artifacts, photographs, and personal narratives, the museum documents the cultural legacy, struggles, and everyday lives of Afro-Antilleans, highlighting their vital role in shaping Panamanian society. It remains a key space for education, cultural pride, and historical recognition.
Sarah England's Afro-Central Americans in New York City: Garifuna Tales of Transnational Movements in Racialized Space (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006) offers an in-depth ethnographic study of the Garifuna, a Black Indigenous community with roots in St. Vincent and Central America, as they navigate life between coastal Honduran villages and New York City. Based on two years of fieldwork, the book examines how transnational migration shapes family, community, and grassroots activism, and how Garifuna identity—at the intersection of Blackness, Indigeneity, and Latinidad—complicates their relationship with U.S. and Honduran societies and international rights organizations.
An initiative dedicated to empowering Afro-descendant communities in Costa Rica through the power of knowledge and technology. Rooted in Afrocentricity, this initiative bridges the information gap by making legal rights, treaties, and decrees accessible, fostering community unity, and equipping individuals with the resources needed to navigate societal and governmental structures with confidence.
AfroLatinx Travel, co-founded by Dash Harris and Javier Wallace, offers group trips and educational experiences that center Black history, legacy, spirituality, and contemporary life throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and Central America. Operating under the motto Travel Diasporadically, the project challenges conventional tourism by foregrounding Afro-descendant perspectives and lived experiences. Through curated itineraries, community engagement, and historical education, AfroLatinx Travel fosters deeper understanding of the African diaspora’s enduring presence and cultural contributions across the region.
Afrodescendientes en el Istmo de Panamá 1501–2012 (Editora Sibauste, S.A., 2012) by Melva Lowe de Goodin is a comprehensive historical account of the presence, struggles, and contributions of Afrodescendant peoples in Panama from the colonial period through 2012. It traces key events including the transatlantic slave trade, maroon resistance, the abolition of slavery, Afro-Antillean migration, and the labor histories surrounding the construction of the railroad and canal. The book also examines systemic segregation, the role of Afro-Panamanian women, and governmental attitudes toward Black communities in the republican and contemporary eras. Drawing on historical memory and political critique, it highlights cultural figures, resistance movements, and ongoing demands for racial justice and national inclusion.
A community association from Nicaragua working to promote the comprehensive development of the Garifuna communities of Nicaragua, from the perspective of human rights, seeking unity in diversity in all our actions.
The Afro's Voices Center of Nicaragua (AVOCENIC) is a center that is located on the North Coast of Nicaragua and works to transform the reality of the Afro-descendant peoples of the Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua, and has as its strategic work axes the vindication of the aspirations of Afro girls, boys, young people, women and men in cultural, political, socioeconomic and environmental contexts to achieve their own well-being, and in this way overcome the inherited invisibility and exclusion, which allows historical continuity with Afro identity of the new generation.
Ancestry.com is a powerful tool not only for tracing family connections but also for researchers exploring broader histories of Black movement across Central America, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Its extensive digital archives—including immigration records, ship and airline manifests, census data, and vital records like birth, marriage, and death certificates—can help uncover the routes, labor histories, and social networks of Afro-descendant communities often overlooked in official accounts. For anyone studying Black Central American history, Ancestry.com offers critical insights into diasporic trajectories, transnational migration, and the lived experiences of individuals and families across the region.
Andy Palacio was a celebrated Belizean musician and cultural advocate, best known for his role in preserving and promoting Garifuna music and identity. Born in the village of Barranco, he rose to fame with punta rock in the 1980s and later gained international recognition with his groundbreaking album Wátina (2007), recorded with The Garifuna Collective. Palacio’s work brought global attention to Garifuna culture and earned him honors such as UNESCO Artist for Peace.
