The College Language Association is celebrating Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month by encouraging members to dive deeper into the study of Hispanic/Latinx scholars. Our World Languages Area Representative, José Manuel Batista, has curated a list of influential Hispanic/Latinx artists to start you on your journey! 

NOTE: The list contains some writers and artists who have made a significant cultural impact in the US or have a strong US connection.  

Elizabeth Acevedo (East Harlem) [parents from Dominican Republic]

• Elizabeth Acevedo’s Website: http://www.acevedowrites.com/ 

• “Afro-Latina”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPx8cSGW4k8&t=22s[2:37]

• “Hair” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I11xCfnzXs[2:13]

• “Rat Ode” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-c3y3pYZ1g [4:46]

Jean Michel Basquiat(1960-1988, Brooklyn) [parents from Haiti and PR]

The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat: https://www.basquiat.com/ 

Julia de Burgos(1914-1953, Puerto Rico)

• Black Past: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/julia-de-burgos-1914-1953/ [Short Biography]

• New York Times: “Overlooked No More: Julia de Burgos, A Poet Who Helped Shape Puerto Rican Identity” (2018)by Maira García   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/obituaries/overlooked-julia-de-burgos.html [Belated obituary]

• Favorite Poem Project: “Ay, Ay, Ay, of the Kinky-Haired Negress” translated by Jack Agüeros and read by Glaisma Pérez-Silva https://www.favoritepoem.org/poem_AyAyAydelaGrifaNegra.html [7:18]

• Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center: “Miss Latina Image Leadership Program” https://juliadeburgos.org/miss-latina-image 

Celia Cruz (1925-2003, Cuba)

• National Museum of African American History and Culture (Smithsonian) https://nmaahc.si.edu/latinx/celia-cruz  [Short Biography and Objects]

• All Things Considered: “Her Life and Music” (2018) by Felix Contrera https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4660698  [8:10]

• NPR: “Celia Cruz's 'Son Con Guaguancó' And The Bridge To Fame In Exile” (2018) by Stephanie Fernández: https://www.npr.org/2018/02/13/584004511/celia-cruzs-son-con-guaguanc-and-the-bridge-to-fame-in-exile 

Mayra Santos-Febres (1966-, Puerto Rico)

• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/mayra-santos-febres/  [Short Biography]

• Dresher Conversations at UMBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpA0ulvvO2I [19:34]

• The Latinx Project: ““This is our time”: Mayra Santos-Febres on Changing Narratives About Race Across the Americas” (2021) by Arlene Dávila https://www.latinxproject.nyu.edu/intervenxions/mayra-santos-febres-on-changing-narratives-about-race-and-social-equity-across-the-americas [Includes list of Afro-Latinx writers and artists]  

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg(1874-1938, Puerto Rico)

• New York Public Library: “Arturo A. Schomburg: His Life and Legacy” (2020) by Herbert Norat https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/10/05/arturo-schomburg-his-life-and-legacy [Pictures, and short 5:41 minute video presentation]

• John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University: Vanessa Valdés discusses her book, Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (2017), with Mark Anthony Neal of Duke University https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZUHgVWDpiE&t=30s [34:37]

• Arturo Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: “Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and Afro-Latinx Ties” (2021) by Lisa Herndon

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2021/09/13/celebrating-hispanic-heritage-month-and-afro-latinx-ties [Mentions Arturo Schomburg (Puerto Rico), Celia Cruz (Cuba), George W. Westerman (Panama), Mongo Santamaría (Cuba), Teodoro Ramos Blanco (Cuba)]

Essays by #CLAScholars

"Sab y la Sibila de los Andes: dos esclavos del amor cortesano" by Nydia Jeffers, CLAJ 60.3

"Ashé-Caribbean Imagery and Folklore in Four Poems of Nicolás Guillén" by Thomas Edison, CLAJ 61.1-2

"There Is No Incongruence Here": Hispanic Notes In The Works Of Ntozake Shange” by Vanessa K. Valdés, CLAJ 53.2

Other Suggestions

• UnidosUS: “Six Afro-Latino/a/x Books Young Readers Should Add to Their Collection” by William García-Medina: https://www.unidosus.org/progress-report/six-afro-latino-a-x-books-young-readers-should-add-to-their-collection/ 

• UnidosUS: “Celebrate Afro-Latino Voices with the UnidosUS Reading List”: https://www.unidosus.org/blog/2021/02/25/celebrate-afro-latino-voices-with-the-unidosus-reading-list/