Black Hispanic and Latino Americans - Demographic Information

Demographic Information

Black Hispanics account for 2.5% of the entire U.S. Hispanic population. Most Black Hispanics in the United States come from within the Puerto Rican and Dominican populations. The Cuban and Panamanian communities also have large numbers of black Hispanics.

The main aspects which distinguish Black Hispanics born in the United States from African Americans is their mother tongue Spanish or most recent ancestors' native language, their culture passed down by their parents, and their Spanish surnames. There is also increasing intermarriages and offspring between non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics of any race, especially between Puerto Ricans and African Americans, which increases both the Hispanic ethnic and black racial demographics.

Since the early days of the movie industry in the U.S., when Black Hispanic actors were given roles, they would usually be cast as African Americans. For those with Spanish-speaking accents that betrayed an otherwise presumed African American, they may seldom have been given roles as Hispanics, and the mulatto Hispanic and Latino actors of African appearance are mostly given Hispanic roles.

Those who claim that Black Hispanics are not sought to play Hispanic roles in the U.S. allege this unfairly leads the masses of viewers to an ignorance to the existence of darker skinned Hispanics. Further, some Black Hispanics who identify themselves as black but of also mixed race once affirming their Hispanicity may be deprived of their status as Black people among African Americans, and categorized by society as non-Black in the U.S. historical context.

Same situation happens in U.S. Hispanic media; critics accuse U.S. Hispanic media, including Latin American media, of overlooking black Hispanic and Latino Americans and black Latin Americans in the telenovelas, mostly stereotyping them as impoverished people.