AFROMESTIZO
THE THIRD ROOT
African
Heritage of Central America
By Kent C. Williams
©2001 - Kent C. Williams, Santa Rosa, California
Post Script
I
would like to dedicate this paper to my friend William Jones. His
curiosity and questions regarding the history of black people in Central America
inspired me to write these pages. Also to professor Walter Turner and
anthropologist J. A. Rogers for their inspiration.
My
interest in the story of
black Central America began after traveling to the region on several
occasions during the 1990’s. In an effort to know more about the history and
culture of my wife’s country (El Salvador) I took my strong interest in
history and ethnic studies and focused that interest on the history of Central
Americas 1.3 million persons of African descent. I soon discovered that as an
ethnic group black people in Central America had been given little attention in
most of the mainstream histories of the region. I wanted to show through my
manuscript that persons of African descent have also made a significant
contribution to this part of the world.
With
a growing Central American population in the United States, I hope this paper
might also serve to demonstrate to both the Central-American and
African-American communities that they do share some of the same history. It is
only through a greater understanding of each others culture and history that we
can come to realize that we are all connected to one another in the great family
circle that is humankind.
FORWARD TO BLACK POPULATION OF CENTRAL AMERICA (1995 ESTIMATE)
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