Afrodescendants make up more than a quarter of the Latin American population and its diasporas. And yet, the representation of Latinidad is overwhelmingly Mestizo. Can K12 classrooms be used to expand understandings of the African Diaspora and to combat anti-Blackness through lesson plans and curricula that center AfroLatines? What is the difference between “representation” and infusion (and why does it matter)? And, how do you get started? Join us for a panel discussion with educators, consultants, and public humanities scholars who are tackling these difficult questions, creating resources, curating communities, and enshrining Blackness across subjects and grade levels.

Speakers

Ïxkári Estelle (they/them) is a South-Central Los Angeles born and raised Black queer diasporeñe. They are an educator, writer, researcher, and community care worker. They hold a B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an M.A in English from the University of California, Riverside. Ïxkári’s academic and curatorial work is on hemispheric kinships of Black queer performance art practices across live and digital mediums; they have a particular focus on Black American and Black Latinx transfem artists. They have 7 years of experience proofreading and copyediting diverse materials; collaboratively developing and presenting classroom content; designing social justice-oriented community experiences; and otherwise working with learners. Ïxkári is especially passionate about increasing the accessibility, cultural relevance, and baselines of care that make up every space they are in, from their curated events to their home spice cabinet. Ïxkári facilitates a cohort of teachers working to infuse K12 curriculum with Afrolatinidad through Cal State San Bernardino’s Afrolatinizamos initiative, supported by the Department of Ethnic Studies and the campus Anthropology Museum’s Afróntalo exhibition.

Dr. William Garcia-Medina

is currently a Charles Phelps Taft Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of

Cincinnati. His research focuses on Black diasporic public humanities, AfroLatinx education,

cultural studies, and museum studies. García-Medina has provided educational consulting,

training, and workshops for numerous organizations, universities, school districts, and museums.

He has taught courses in Latino Studies, American Studies, and Black Studies and has published in

these fields in academic journals, blogs, and podcasts. García-Medina has contributed to Latino

Rebels since 2015 and has been a guest on national broadcast radio such as Latino USA and

NPR. He tweets from @afrolatinoed.

Jenniffer Whyte is a native from the Dominican Republic who currently resides in Anniston, Alabama. She is a Spanish teacher, a mother of five, Podcaster (Afro-Latina Teacher in the Rural South), Blogger, and Zumba instructor. She is a national presenter to teachers all over the United States. She's on the board of directors for the American Council for Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). She was the 2021 Alabama AWLA Teacher of the Year, the 2021 SCOLT Southern Region Teacher of the Year, and a finalist for the 2022 National Teacher of the Year. Jenniffer loves to travel with students and has attended several trips in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and Central America. 

Yahusef Medina serves as the director of Community Initiatives at Virginia Humanities, the

state’s humanities council headquartered at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. In

his role, Mr. Medina provides leadership and expertise in broadening and strengthening

community partnerships statewide. Mr. Medina leads the Virginia HBCU Scholars fellowship, the

Virginia African American Cultural Resources Task Force, and works across the organization to

co-design and develop educational content. Prior to his current role, Mr. Medina worked with

youth and families in the K-12 public school system as well as the juvenile justice system as an

education and re-entry program specialist in Harlem, N.Y. In addition to his work at Virginia

Humanities, Mr. Medina serves on the board of directors for Canary Academy Online, the

AfroLatin@ Forum, as chair of the Education and Career Training committee for the Virginia

Latino Advisory Board, and is also a visiting scholar at the Center for Minority Serving

Institutions in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University.

Manuel Mendez is a University of Maryland Ph.D. student (College of Information Studies) whose scholarship focuses on Afro-Latino history in the D.C. metropolitan region. A documentary producer and archival activist, Manuel is a frequent invited panelist and speaker on Latino identity, Black cultural memory and heritage, and anti-Black racial oppression among Spanish-Speaking and/or white supremacist communities. Manuel's scholarship draws from his extensive experience with youth organizing, bilingual public library service, and grassroots oral history work. His work has been recognized and utilized by Politics & Prose, Hola Cultura, Univision, the Office of the D.C. Mayor, and various universities across the U.S.