20 pages • 40 minutes read
Afro-Latina
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou (1978)
Angelou’s first-person poem is a paean to the beauty and resilience of Black women, who have overcome slavery and racism with grace and style. While the imagined reader in “Afro-Latina” is Afro-Latino, “Still I Rise” is a direct address to an ignorant, possibly hostile reader who has failed to appreciate Black women. The difference between imagined readers reflects a greater focus on writing for Black audiences rather than non-Black ones in contemporary literature.
“Middle Passage” by Robert Hayden (1985)
Using multiple voices, fragments of historical documents, and Black spirituals, Robert Hayden retells the story of the 1839 revolt of enslaved Mende aboard the Spanish human-trafficking ship Amistad. Like Acevedo, Hayden explores history and discovers powerful stories about the fortitude of Black ancestors.
“Hair” by Elizabeth Acevedo (2016)
In this first-person poem, Acevedo addresses how beauty culture perpetuates anti-Black racism that teaches people of African descent to hate their hair. As she does in “Afro-Latina,” Acevedo explores the roots of internalized racism.
Further Literary Resources
The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry by Susan B. A. Somers-Willett (2009)
Somers-Willett explores the cultural context of slam poetry, with special focus on the relationship between the poet and the audience and the place of identity in the works of slam poets. This book provides a critical lens for understanding the persona in the poem and the aspects of rhetorical context that shape slam poetry.
The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States edited by Miriam Jiménez Román and Juan Flores (2010)
Using essays, poems, and reviews, the contributors to this volume explore Afro-Latinidad, the primary cultural context for the poem “Afro-Latina.” The book offers historical background on the presence of Afro-Latinos in the Americas and their contributions to United States history and culture specifically.
“Afro-Latinidad: Who Gets to Claim It?” by Maria Hinojosa (2017)
Hinojosa interviews self-identified Afro-Latinos about their experience with anti-Black racism in their own communities and how the interviewees navigate being Black and Latino. The interviewees confront many of the contradictions and challenges that Acevedo explores in “Afro-Latina.”
“The WD Interview: Elizabeth Acevedo” by Amy Jones and Elizabeth Acevedo (2022)
Jones and Acevedo discuss Acevedo’s writing and revision processes. This interview includes details about the influence of music on Acevedo’s work.
Listen to Poem
The poet reads aloud her spoken-word poem on the SlamFind YouTube channel, a platform that airs national poetry events. This video shows the poem’s performatory elements—amplification, gestures, other body language—that don’t translate through the purely written word.
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By Elizabeth Acevedo
