Cuban Coffee Cure The aroma of a wonderfully rich, warm freshly brewed cup of coffee triggers various expressions in us. Words cannot express the gratitude I have for the day God created…the coffee bean. Who would have ever thought that such a small bean could hold such glorious flavor and give off such a…

Reel Urban News Interview ISBL

Interview to President and Founder of International Society of Black Latinos by Reel Urban News Interview

Unpacking Blackness in Mexico’s Costa Chica

Unpacking Blackness in Mexico’s Costa Chica When Marina Guerrero Salinas, 62, left her hometown and went to the city, people would constantly ask her where she was from. “I’d say, ‘I’m Mexican’, and they’d say, ‘But here in Mexico there aren’t black people,’” she says. “I would tell them, ‘Look how you don’t know everything…

“Life as a Black Girl in Panama”

“Life as a Black Girl in Panama” Written by Melissa Shepherd. I was born in Panama and raised by my mother, Cleota, and the “Gibson/Shepherd village”. In keeping with the African proverb referring to the community’s impact on children’s upbringing, this village of sorts also included the neighborhood experience where everyone—biologically related or not—was called…

Afro-Latinos Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month, and the International Society of Black Latinos (ISBL) will participate in a number of different celebrations. ISBL is a Los Angeles- based organization whose mission is to educate the broader community about the cultural and historical richness of the African Diaspora in Latin America and the presence of…

History and Culture in the United States

The story of Afro-Latinos springs from the larger narrative of the African diaspora, the dispersion of African peoples and their cultures to other parts of the world. Blacks have inhabited all of the Americas for centuries now. Some scholars argue that archaeological evidence in Central and South America indicates that Africans set foot in the…