Honrando a nuestros ancestros caribeños: Conmemorando 150 años de la segunda ola de personas de descendencia africana en Costa Rica.

Resumen

The year 2022 commemorates 150 years of the arrival of Caribbean immigrants to Costa Rica for the construction of the railroad during the late XIX century and later for labor in the banana plantations during early XX Century. Unfortunately, there is virtually any acknowledgement of the important role that individuals be national, or foreigners play in the economic development of a nation. While some nationals may be recognized for their outstanding contribution or achievements it is rare for immigrants and especially if they are not part of the hegemonic ethnic group. Late XIX and early XX century Afro-Caribbean migrants are not the exception. The objective of this article is to bring to the collective Costa Rican imagination the names of seven Afro Caribbean individual migrants and a family who contributed to the economic, cultural, and reproductive development of this country by honoring them making their stories visible through memory. The article gathered information through oral history between January and March 2022 along with the revision and analysis of newspaper archives and other documentation.