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Introduction
The Dominican Republic is truly a place that prides itself in its racial diversity, which seems to be a part of the island’s DNA. Although the Republic has been largely under the influence of the traditional Hispanidad narrative until the 1960s, the African component of the Dominican racial identity is now being openly celebrated (Ricourt, 2016). Since the second half of the 20th century, there has been a rise in “an agenda of recovering (…) the African component of Dominican national culture” (Ricourt, 2016, p. 143).
Afro-Latinos is a term to refer to individuals of African descent who come from Spanish-speaking regions of Latin America. Nowadays, the group is considered one of the most marginalized both in the United States and in Latin America. Although they constitute a substantial share of the population of most Latin American nations, Afro-Latinos continue to face discrimination. Estimates show that the Dominican Republic is home to one of the largest groups of Latinos of African ancestry (Lopez & Gonzalez-Barrera, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to present two Afro-Latinos from the Dominican Republic who have managed to succeed and become world-renown celebrities.
Elizabeth Acevedo
Both of the personalities in this essay are authors, with the first one being Elizabeth Acevedo. She is not only a novelist but a poet as well. Acevedo is the author of such works as Clap when you land (2020), With the fire on high (2019), The poet X (2018), and a collection of poems Beastgirl & other origin myths (2016) (Backlund, n.d.). The last book is Acevedo’s debut piece, which centers on the experiences of a first-generation immigrant girl in America and has various folkloric elements. Acevedo is the New York Times-bestselling author due to the success of The poet X (2018), which is also the winner of “the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2018, the Boston Globe Horn Book Award, the Walter Dean Myers Award,” and many others (Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin, 2019, para. 3). Elizabeth Acevedo is one of the most prominent young adult authors in the world, while also proving herself in her Afro-Latino heritage.
Acevedo was born in New York City as the only daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. In middle school, she shared a passion for rapping but quickly realized that her true love was poetry (HITN Learning, n.d.). Thus, by age 14, Acevedo was participating in slam poetry readings and open mic events around the city. As a member of her high school’s poetry club, Elizabeth started to discover that she gravitated toward the themes of culture and gender in her work.
At George Washington University, Acevedo earned a BA degree and majored in Performing Arts. After completing the degree, the author “joined Teach for America and taught eighth grade in Prince George’s County, Maryland” (Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin, 2019, para. 2). Although the student body of her school was comprised primarily of children of color, she was the first Latina teacher of a core subject.
It is important to acknowledge that Acevedo’s work is heavily influenced by her Dominican heritage. She often uses literature as an outlet for her frustration regarding the issues related to racial identification, discrimination, and multiculturalism. For instance, The poet X (2018) tells the story of a teenage Afro-Latina girl in Harlem who struggles with puberty, first love, and family drama. As a result, Xiomara joins a Slam Poetry Club at her school, which stands in direct opposition to the girl’s mother, a deeply evicted Christian. Elizabeth Acevedo manages to masterfully combine the themes of race and gender with the daily snippets into the life of an ordinary teenager. As of 2021, the author resides in Washington and continues to work on new novels and poetry collections.
Junot Diaz
Junot Diaz is another literary genius who identifies as Afro-Latino. Born in the Dominican Republic, the author was raised in the U.S. after his family moved to New Jersey. Some of the most famous works of Junot Diaz include Drown (1996), The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao (2007), This is how you lose her (2012), and many more. The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao (2007) won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008, while This is how you lose her (2012) became the National Book Award finalist and the New York Times bestseller (Diaz, 2021). Apart from that, Diaz is a recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, and many other accolades.
His other recognitions included an Honorary Doctorate from Brown University, which was bestowed upon him in 2013 (Junot Diaz Biography, n.d.). As of 2021, the author is “the fiction editor at Boston Review and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology” (Diaz, 2021, para. 1). Just like Acevedo, Diaz incorporates the musings about racial identity and culture into his works.
Born on December 31, 1968, in a family of 7, including a mother, a father, two sisters, and two brothers, Diaz has spent early childhood in Santo Domingo. At the age of seven, Diaz’s family moved to New Jersey (Junot Diaz Biography, n.d.). As a high school student, the boy was a true rebel, got awful grades, and worked odd part-time jobs, including his time at a steel mill and as a pool table delivery man (Junot Diaz Biography, n.d.).
Diaz has both a Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University (History and Literature) and a Master’s degree from Cornell University (Creative Writing). During his time at Cornell, Diaz began to draft his first short story collection Drown, which he published in 1996 (Junot Diaz Biography, n.d.). The stories in this work are narrated by Yunior, a young immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Both Drown (1996) and Diaz’s second work The wondrous life of Oscar Wao (2007) center around the history of the Dominican Republic and the very essence of the “Dominican Dream.” It is evident that akin to Acevedo, Diaz uses his personal experiences to navigate him in his writing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Dominican Republic is home to a diverse and multi-cultural environment. Unfortunately, the region’s history of denial of some of its residents’ African roots contributes to the ongoing debates surrounding racial identification. Junot Diaz and Elizabeth Acevedo are both Afro-Latinos coming from the Dominican Republic. They have managed to show their talent to the world and become truly successful. At the same time, they are never afraid to wear their ancestry with pride and speak out about the issues surrounding it in their work. By portraying the journeys of Afro-Latino Dominican characters, the authors did not only gain global recognition but earned the respect of millions of Afro-Latino individuals.
References
Backlund, A. (n.d.). Elizabeth Acevedo. Web.
Diaz, J. (2021). About. Web.
HITN Learning (n.d.). Women’s history month: Elizabeth Acevedo. Web.
Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin. (2019). Elizabeth Acevedo. Web.
Junot Diaz biography. (n.d.). Web.
Lopez, G., & Gonzalez-Barrera, A. (2016). Afro-Latino: A deeply rooted identity among U.S. Hispanics. Web.
Ricourt, M. (2016). The Dominican racial imaginary: surveying the landscape of race and nation in Hispaniola. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
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