Every year, from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the histories, cultures and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans. But within that story is another rich and sometimes overlooked one: the history of Afro-Latinos.

Afro-Latino history stretches back centuries. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, European powers such as Spain and Portugal transported roughly 15 times more enslaved Africans to Latin America and the Caribbean than to mainland North America, according to the Pew Research Center.

That history helped shape the cultures, communities, music, food and traditions found throughout Latin America and the Caribbean today.

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A 2016 Pew Research Center survey found that about one-quarter of Latino adults in the United States identify as Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean, or of African descent with roots in Latin America.

The survey was notable because it was the first nationally representative U.S. survey to directly ask Latino adults whether they considered themselves Afro-Latino.

Where people come from also appears to play a role in how they identify. Pew found that U.S. Latinos with Caribbean roots are more likely to identify as Afro-Latino or Afro-Caribbean than Latinos with roots elsewhere — 34% compared with 22%.

Afro-Latinos are also more geographically concentrated along the East Coast and in the South. About 65% of Afro-Latinos live in those regions, compared with 48% of other U.S. Latinos.

The Afro-Latina diaspora is spread across the world, shaped in part by modern migration patterns. However, between the 15th and 19th centuries, the transatlantic slave trade played a major role in shaping the community’s geographic distribution and the histories that followed. The trade forcibly brought millions of Africans to Latin America, with large populations arriving in places such as Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, according to the Intercultural Development Research Center.

Over generations, African, Indigenous, and European communities came together, creating distinct Afro-descendant cultures across countries and territories including Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Brazil. Take language, for example. According to the U.S. Language Services, enslaved individuals carried “1,000s of languages and dialects from various regions and tribes across Africa” which “ranged from the Mandinka, Wolof, and Yoruba languages in West Africa to Kongo in Central Africa and beyond.”

Slave owners quickly recognized that language could be a source of connection and potentially resistance. In some cases, they deliberately separated enslaved people who spoke the same language, even dividing families, in an attempt to prevent communication and organized rebellion. Yet these efforts did not erase the linguistic traditions of enslaved Afro-Latinos. Instead, people from different communities found new ways to communicate and, over time, created languages of their own.

Enslaved Africans came from a wide range of ethnic and linguistic groups across West and Central Africa, meaning that many could not understand one another. To communicate across these differences, they developed pidgins, simplified forms of language that drew from multiple linguistic traditions.

Over generations, some of these pidgins developed into established creole languages. Palenquero, spoken in Colombia, is one example. More than 90 percent of its vocabulary comes from Spanish, while Portuguese and Kikongo, a Central African Bantu language, also contributed to its development, according to the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures (APiCS). Papiamento, spoken in parts of the Dutch Caribbean and along nearby Latin American coastal regions, similarly reflects the blending of African, European, and Caribbean languages.

The influence of Afro-Latino culture extended way beyond language; it poured into nearly every aspect of life, including agriculture, skilled labor, commerce, exploration, and community building. They also brought cultural traditions, cooking techniques, and musical practices that survived and evolved across generations.

Music became one of the most powerful expressions of this cultural exchange. African rhythms, particularly traditions of drumming and call-and-response, merged with European instruments and musical styles to help shape genres such as salsa, cumbia, samba, merengue, and reggaeton. Tango also developed from a complex mix of African, European, and Latin American influences, including the Cuban habanera. African culinary traditions likewise left a lasting mark across the region. Techniques such as boiling, pounding, and mashing starchy foods helped inspire dishes including Puerto Rican mofongo, Dominican mangú, Brazilian acarajé, and Peruvian tacu tacu.

As Afro-Latino communities grew and migration patterns shifted, people from Latin America and the Caribbean increasingly established communities in the United States. Some would go on to become part of the country’s history in significant ways.

One example is Esteban Hotesse, whom BlackPast identifies as the only Dominican-born member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Hotesse was born on Feb. 11, 1919, in Moca, Dominican Republic. Four years later, on Nov. 1, 1923, he left Moca with his mother and younger sister and traveled to New York City. After passing through Ellis Island, the family settled in Manhattan.

Little is known about Hotesse’s early years in New York, but on Feb. 21, 1942, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. He was later assigned to the 619th Bombardier Squadron. In 1944, the 477th Bombardment Group was reorganized to operate B-25 bombers after pressure from civil rights leaders to open more significant roles in the Army Air Corps to African Americans. The 619th Squadron became part of the newly reorganized group.

In March 1945, the group was transferred to Freeman Army Airfield near Seymour, Indiana. Although the unit did not see combat during World War II, its members became central to a major confrontation over racial segregation in the military. The resistance that followed became known as the Freeman Field mutiny and later emerged as an important episode in the broader history of the civil rights movement.

As migration from Latin America and the Caribbean continued, the East Coast and the South became important destinations for Afro-Latino communities. New York City, in particular, developed into one of the country’s major centers of Afro-Latino life. Across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, generations of Afro-Latinos have contributed to the city’s neighborhoods, music, food, arts, and cultural identity.

The U.S. Afro-Latino population is also remarkably diverse. Communities trace their roots to countries and territories throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, including Panama, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Colombia. Their experiences reflect a long and complex history of migration, cultural exchange, and the preservation of African heritage across generations.

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