"As Puerto Ricans prepare to celebrate the abolition of slavery on March 22nd," Frank A. Guridy writes in an article posted on the US-Puertoricans.org website, "it might be useful for us to ponder the experiences of afro-descendientes on the island in the decades after emancipation. While many will celebrate by dancing to the bomba y plena, I will be thinking about Fannie Barrios. On April 18, 1905, Francisca "Fannie" Barrios, a student at Tuskegee Institute, sat down to write a letter to the school's famous principal, Booker T. Washington.
Barrios, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico who had been a student at Tuskegee since 1901, saw her time at the school potentially coming to an end. 'I am one of the Porto-Rican Girls in this institution,' Barrios wrote, 'and the reason why I am writing you these lines is that I want to ask if you please be kind and try to find a scholarship for me as I am anxious [to finish] my studies here.' Barrios asked for Washington's assistance because the U.S. colonial government in Puerto Rico had discontinued funding her studies. 'I am a poor girl,' Barrios continued, 'my mother has seven children and I am the eldest, that was the reason why she sent me to this institution with the idea of learning something for when I leave this place for Porto-Rico I could be of service to her.' Barrios concluded her letter by stating frankly: 'I will be disappointed if I have to leave this school.'

"Barrios was part of a cohort of international students from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the African diaspora who studied at Tuskegee in the early twentieth century. In an era when racial segregation was becoming the governing principle of education in the U.S. South, Tuskegee, and its predecessor Hampton Institute, championed what became known as the 'Hampton-Tuskegee Idea' of industrial education for people of African descent. Tuskegee became the pre-eminent model of industrial training. Founded by ex-slave and Hampton graduate Booker T.Washington in rural Alabama in 1881, the institute grew rapidly and superseded Hampton as the most prominent and well-endowed school for African-Americans. Tuskegee quickly developed a national and international stature, attracting thousands of students from across the U.S. and areas outside the country. However, it also attracted hundreds of students from across the African Diaspora, including the African continent, the English-speaking Caribbean, Central and South America, along with Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic."

Afro-Peruvians continue to struggle for the recognition of their rights, respect for their culture and to an education that takes their identity into account. Of the 28 million Peruvians, just 10 percent are estimated to be Afro-descendents, most of whom live along the coast. Jorge Ramírez, president of the Black Association for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, or ASONEDH, and of the National Network of African Diaspora in Peru (Afro-Peruvian Network) spoke with Latinamerica Press collaborator Lily Céspedes about Peru's Black movement.