El Negro en Costa Rica is a documentary held in the National Archives of Costa Rica that explores the history, cultural traditions, and lived experiences of the Black population in the province of Limón. Through interviews and historical context, the film highlights the community’s Caribbean roots, contributions to national life, and ongoing struggles for visibility and equality within Costa Rican society.
Carlos Meléndez and Quince Duncan's El Negro en Costa Rica (first published in 1972, Editorial Costa Rica) is a landmark historical and social study that traces the experiences and contributions of Afro-descendant communities in Costa Rica. Released on the centenary of Jamaican migration to Limón, the book brings together the perspectives of historian Meléndez and celebrated Afro-Caribbean writer Duncan in what they describe as an “anthology” of essays, archival materials, and critical reflections. It explores both the colonial-era African presence and the later arrival of Afro-Caribbean migrants, highlighting their central yet often overlooked role in shaping Costa Rican society. As the first major work of its kind, El negro en Costa Rica remains a foundational text for understanding race, national identity, and Afro-Costa Rican history.
The EscuelAfro "Miguel Ángel Ibarra" is an educational initiative by the Fundación Afrodescendientes Organizados Salvadoreños (AFROOS) in El Salvador. Named after Miguel Ángel Ibarra, author of the 1932 novel "Cafetos en Flor," the school aims to empower Afro-Salvadoran individuals through comprehensive training programs. Participants engage in courses that cover historical, cultural, and social topics pertinent to the Afro-descendant community, fostering a deeper understanding of their heritage and promoting active citizenship.
Eulalia Bernard was a groundbreaking Afro-Costa Rican writer, poet, educator, and activist who played a central role in advancing Black cultural and political consciousness in Costa Rica. Born in Limón in 1935 to Jamaican immigrant parents, she was the first Afro-Costa Rican woman to publish a book in her country. Her work, written in Spanish, English, and Limonese Creole, centered the histories and voices of Afro-descendant communities, particularly in Limón, and called for the recognition of Black identity within the Costa Rican nation. A pioneer in education, she founded the Chair of Afro-American Cultural Studies at the University of Costa Rica and taught widely across the Americas. Bernard also served as a diplomat and ran for political office, breaking barriers in both cultural and political spheres
Finding La Negrita (Jaded Ibis Press, 2022) by Natasha Gordon Chipembere is a captivating retelling of the Black Madonna narrative, which has driven Costa Rica’s national and spiritual identity since the 1700s. In powerful prose, Natasha Gordon-Chipembere delivers a vivid and intimate living portrait of slavery in this nation, which was radically different than plantation bondage in other parts of the Americas.
The first book on women’s political history in Belize, From Colony to Nation (University of Nebraska Press, 2009) demonstrates that women were creators of and activists within the two principal political currents of twentieth-century Belize: colonial-middle class reform and popular labor-nationalism. As such, their alliances and struggles with colonial administrators, male reformers, and nationalists and with one another were central to the emergence of this improbable nation-state.
From the Banana Zones to the Big Easy (LSU Press, 2019) focuses on the immigration of West Indians and Central Americans—particularly those of British West Indian descent from the Caribbean coastal areas—to New Orleans from the turn of the twentieth century to the start of World War II. Glenn A. Chambers discerns the methods by which these individuals of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds integrated into New Orleans society and negotiated their distinct historical and ethnoracial identities in the Jim Crow South.
Garifuna in Peril follows Ricardo, a Garifuna language teacher, as he fights to preserve his endangered culture by building a school in his Honduran village. His plans are threatened by tourism-driven land disputes, while his son’s play about Garifuna resistance to British colonialism echoes past and present struggles. Featuring debut performances and primarily spoken in Garifuna, the film is a landmark in Afro-Indigenous cinema.
