History

 Brief View History

   Afro-Caribbean population, which arrived in the late nineteenth century, came in search of work and land. Most of these immigrants helped to build the railway to the Atlantic and work on banana plantations.

Another theory mentions that black people were brought to work as slaves in banana plantations, and the construction of Atlantic railroad. Then, in April 1824 the law that abolished slavery in Costa Rica, and about a hundred blacks were presented to legalize their situation was handled, this suggests that others were free men. Although the abolished slavery, black people lived difficult situations in banana plantations, where they worked. They suffered abuse from the United Fruit Company. Afrocaribbean did not have any kind of social security. Afrocaribbean humans rights was not respected in any way.
  On the other hand, during the first decades of living in the country, this population was someway separated from the Spanish-speaking population due to several factors such as adverse geography, poor roads, and prejudices arising from differences of origin, race, religion and language.

  In contrast, Costa Ricans exhibited and proclaimed the stereotype of their European ancestry and prided their selves on their social tolerance; the fact was that black people faced discrimination. Thus the late seventies, the Afro-Costa Rican population expressed by means other racial and cultural awareness. In 1978, due to the request of a group of black professors (Sindicato de Educadores Costarricenses) declared August 31 as Black Day.

   

   Stereotypes and Discimination

  As reported by the article "El Caribe Negro" in the digital web page “Hoy”, Costaricans used to describe to tourists the Caribbean cost as a paradise with exuberant beaches rainforest, with a variety black people that speak English, dance Calypso and reggae. But there is a silent discrimination in that province of the country. There is a lot of poverty and lack of jobs.  Most of the people in Limon live of the tourism and port activity.

 Caribbean zone has a big cultural wealth that is rarely appreciated by Costa Rica population. To illustrate this fact, the government is not really concern about Limon’s development. For instance, lack of interest to invest money in infrastructure, highways and other projects shows evidence of inequality by government and municipalities. Most of Costaricans have misconceptions about the Afrocostarricense culture. For example, Afrocostarricans are presented in poorer socioeconomic as lower achievement education, unemployment, and precarious conditions. According to the webpage Campus digital, violence in the province of Limón creates a stereotype against black population. Proof of this is that 27 percent of the population believes that black people of Afrocaribbean descent are more aggressive and socially dangerous.Those facts make the believe that most people in the Caribbean coast are violent and drugs addicts. Because their appearance, people judged Afrocaribbean that they listen to reggae music and everybody imitates Bob Marley, so they have dread Rasta and smoke marijuana. Besides, many people believe that Limonenses spend much time in the beach to drink alcohol. All this prejudices are not true, for that reason is important that media, which has influence in citizens, be aware about how they transmit news of people from Limón, and start to create interest for the problems and other difficult situations that our black people live in a country that see them as foreigners, had forgotten their roots and big cultural value. They have a different culture, different in terms of land tenure conditions, access to work, and study. Thus, the challenge of the black population is to be recognized, because they live as a separate world from Costa Rica.

References
María Elena Masís. "El aporte de la cultura Afro-Caribeña”. Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. 2016. Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. Web.03 Jun. 2016

Hoy. "El Caribe Negro, un mundo aparte en Costa Rica." HOY digital1 Setiembre, 2012.

Margie Villagra Ezquivel. "Costarricenses olvidan su raíces afrodescendientes."