Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series Celebrates Afro-Latin Identities

Since 1981, the Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series has found new ways of exploring Black history and culture. The tradition continues on February 17 with “The Power of Black Voices: Afro Latin Identities in America’‘ or “La Fuerza de las Voces Negras: Afrolatinidades in Las Americas.’’

This year’s event focuses on an identity that often gets overlooked, especially in the U.S. where Blackness is usually associated with the history of African Americans, said Lacey Hunter, a professor of Africana Studies and Associate Director of the Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience, which organizes the series.

“We’ve been taught to be hyper focused on the U.S. and Africa because of the way Americans tell their story. But that’s a fractional part of that racial identity. Blackness reaches across the world and the majority of people of African descent are in South America and Central America,’’ said Hunter.

“Our program is about telling a series of historical narratives that aren’t included in Black History Month traditionally and don’t get emphasized enough. They take us beyond  what we know about our culture and identity,’’ she said.

Read more here: https://www.newark.rutgers.edu/news/marion-thompson-wright-lecture-series-celebrates-afro-latin-identities