Mururata is a large village located in the tropical valleys of the Yungas region of Bolivia. Although the population of the village is small when compared to neighboring cities, the people who reside there are overwhelmingly of African descent. Mururata is less than 150 miles … Read MoreMururata, Bolivia (ca. 1851- )
Emboscada is a small city located in the Cordillera region of Paraguay. In 2002 the city had a population of 13,500 people. The overwhelming majority of them have African ancestry due to the presence of slaves and free blacks in the area during the Spanish … Read MoreEmboscada, Paraguay (1740- )
Though born in New York City, New York’s Harlem community, Harry Keels Thomas, Jr. was raised in a middle-class neighborhood in Queens where most parents were civil servants. His mother was a social worker, and his father, a World War II veteran, operated small businesses. … Read MoreHarry K. Thomas Jr. (1956- )
Susana Baca, recording artist and the first Afro-Peruvian to sit as a Cabinet Minister, was born in 1944 in Chorrillos, a seaside district of Lima, Peru, to a working class family. Her father was a chauffeur and her mother worked as cook and laundress for … Read MoreSusana Baca (1944- )
In the following article University of Oregon historian Carlos Aguirre describes the self-taught poet, writer, and folklorist Nicomedes Santa Cruz, one of the understudied black intellectual leaders in Peru and Latin America. Nicomedes Santa Cruz was, without a doubt, the most important black intellectual in … Read MoreNicomedes Santa Cruz: A Black Public Intellectual in Twentieth-Century Peru
Born December 9, 1579 in Lima, Peru, St. Martin de Porres is best known for his charitable work. His piety allowed him access to the Dominican order of his country, and his acts of compassion for the sick became part of the justification for his … Read MoreMartin De Porres (1579-1639)
Tupac Shakur, the son of two Black Panther members, William Garland and Afeni Shakur, was born in East Harlem, New York on June 16, 1971, and named after Jose Gabriel Tupac Amaru II, an 18th century political leader in Peru who was executed after leading … Read MoreTupac Shakur (1971-1996)
