Last month, perhaps in anticipation of Hispanic Heritage Month (which began a couple of days ago), the U.S. mint debuted its latest coin in its American Women Quarters series. The coin features an engraving of music legend Celia Cruz on the tail side with her famous catchphrase, “Azucar!” emblazoned beside her image. Ms. Cruz is the first Afro-Cuban American woman to be honored in this way by the mint. Since “Cruz” is my husband’s family name, and since my husband is a musician whose repertoire has always included salsa music, I intend to scoop up as many of these quarters as I can find. 

In 2008, BPM collaborated with our counterparts at Latino Public Broadcasting to support a documentary about Ms. Cruz titled Celia: The Queen, by Joe Cardona and Mario De Varona. In the years since, BPM has provided support for several projects that focus on Afro-Latinx life, both in the continental United States and across the African diaspora.

This past spring, the winner of our top PitchBLACK Award was a project elevating a story of Puerto Rican fisherman, environmentalist and revolutionary, Carlos “Taso” Zenón. Back in the 1970s and early ‘80s, Zenón led a resistance against the U.S. Navy’s occupation and exploitation of his native island (Vieques). The upcoming film, directed by Juan C. Davila and produced by Camila Rodriquez, is moving toward completion and we hope to see it released sometime within the coming year or two. 

Media stories made by and about Afro-Latinx Americans are long overdue. Whether they manifest as multimedia projects, art exhibitions, books, commemorative coins or more, I welcome them. These stories are an essential part of the complete telling of how our nation came to be and what it is today.

Suggested Viewing During Hispanic Heritage Month

If you’re looking for Afro-Latinx stories to screen and listen to during Hispanic Heritage Month, I invite you to consider the list below (click each title to watch and learn more). Some of these projects are available to stream online (albeit behind a paywall). Others, you might have to search for. But all are worth your time. And if you enjoy them, I encourage you to share them with your network.     

• 125 Franco’s Boulevard, by Sia Nyorkor, Jacob Templin
• Alzheimer’s in Color, a podcast by Yvonne Latty

• Bakoso: Afrobeats of Cuba, by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi 

• Celia: The Queen, by Joe Cardona and Mario De Varona
• Elena, by Michèle Stephenson & Joe Brewster
• Through the Night, by Loira Limbal
• Smile4Kime, by Elena Guzman
• Stateless, by Michele Stephenson & Joe Brewster
• Uprooted, by Juan Mejia Botero

Additional BPM-funded projects that center Latinx stories include:

• Me Vacuno Porque, by Antonio Alanais
• Silent Beauty, by Jazmin Mara López