If the contributions of Black people were as well known as they should be, and fully appreciated, then we wouldn't need a designated Black History Month. Since that is not the case, Black History Month is a reminder to us all to actively celebrate the contributions of Black people throughout history. And no celebration of Black history is complete without the inclusion of Afro-Latinos, who still far too often get left out of Black history, Latino history, and all history. Teaching our children about the contributions of Afro-Latinos is our duty and not one that we can trust to be done for us, because so far, the public school system hasn't done a stellar job of representing Latinos in general, which by default means that Afro-Latinos are even less represented.
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Latinos are often lumped together as one big group, but anyone who is Latino knows that we are incredibly diverse. We express our Latinidad differently depending on whether our roots are from Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Panama, and so on. Also, being Latino has nothing to do with race, which is still very confusing to some and why the term Afro-Latino even came into existence. "The term Afro-Latino was adopted as a response to the invisibility of Latin American and Caribbean blacks while discussing issues of ethnicity," explains the University of Nevada on its Black History Month Resources page.
It's not easy to teach our children about things that we may not even know, but we live during a time when it's easy to access articles like this one highlighting Afro-Latinos who have made an impact. Take a look at just a few of the amazing Afro-Latinos who have impacted the arts, the sciences, and the world. Share their names and contributions with your kids to help inspire them to achieve their dreams. Then keep actively searching for Afro-Latino contributions online, because there is so much power in knowing our true history.