Afro-Latino Icons

In honor of Black History Month, we're covering the lesser discussed history of Afro-Latinos every Wednesday of February. When we think of Black heroes, people like Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, or Rosa Parks may come to mind. Seldom do we think of Afro-Latinos or even realize some of our Black icons have Latino roots. Vanessa K. Valdés, associate provost for Community Engagement at The City College of New York and author of Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (SUNY Press, 2017), discusses iconic Afro-Latinos and their contributions to political movements, art, and culture.