Teofilo Colon Jr. (born 1974) is a Garifuna-American photographer,
filmmaker, writer and journalist. Colon has created an online archive
of information about the Garifuna culture, an Afro-Caribbean
population made up of formerly African, Island Caribs, Arawak people
exiled by the British from Saint Vincent Island to Roatán, an island
off the coast of Honduras, who eventually emigrated to the Caribbean
coasts of the Central American countries of Honduras, Belize,
Guatemala, Nicaragua - with its biggest concentration outside that
area in New York City, found most intensively in the Bronx.Colon was
born and grew up in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Although his parents, mother Raymunda "Reina Gringa" Colon (née
Alvarez Casildo) and father Teofilo Colon Sr. were both from Honduras
and spoke Spanish and Garifuna at home, Colon only spoke English.
Colon's parents were from the Tocamacho (known as Dugamachu in
Garifuna) on his paternal side and Plaplaya (known as Bülagüriba in
Garifuna) on his maternal sideâ€"two small villages of Garifuna
territories off the northern coast of Honduras. Colon began to learn
the Garifuna language as an adult.In addition to his freelance work in
film and video and as a photographer for Friends of Crotona Park, Inc.
in 2008, Colon began a Facebook group called "You Know You Are
Garifuna/Garinagu When..." as an experiment to try and see how many
Garifuna people he could find on Facebook. After connecting with
thousands of Garinagu (plural for Garifuna), in an effort to
understand more about his culture and provide a centralized resource
of information, Colon created the Being Garifuna website to document
stories and news about Garifuna people, history, and culture. The
website is an online resource for people of Garifuna background to
learn more about their culture and find news on current Garifuna
cultural activities.Among the work he has compiled about art and music
of Garifuna people, Colon did extensive research on victims of the
Happyland Fire, a fire that killed many people who were thought to be
of Garifuna background. One of the victims of the tragedy was Colon's
cousin.
filmmaker, writer and journalist. Colon has created an online archive
of information about the Garifuna culture, an Afro-Caribbean
population made up of formerly African, Island Caribs, Arawak people
exiled by the British from Saint Vincent Island to Roatán, an island
off the coast of Honduras, who eventually emigrated to the Caribbean
coasts of the Central American countries of Honduras, Belize,
Guatemala, Nicaragua - with its biggest concentration outside that
area in New York City, found most intensively in the Bronx.Colon was
born and grew up in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Although his parents, mother Raymunda "Reina Gringa" Colon (née
Alvarez Casildo) and father Teofilo Colon Sr. were both from Honduras
and spoke Spanish and Garifuna at home, Colon only spoke English.
Colon's parents were from the Tocamacho (known as Dugamachu in
Garifuna) on his paternal side and Plaplaya (known as Bülagüriba in
Garifuna) on his maternal sideâ€"two small villages of Garifuna
territories off the northern coast of Honduras. Colon began to learn
the Garifuna language as an adult.In addition to his freelance work in
film and video and as a photographer for Friends of Crotona Park, Inc.
in 2008, Colon began a Facebook group called "You Know You Are
Garifuna/Garinagu When..." as an experiment to try and see how many
Garifuna people he could find on Facebook. After connecting with
thousands of Garinagu (plural for Garifuna), in an effort to
understand more about his culture and provide a centralized resource
of information, Colon created the Being Garifuna website to document
stories and news about Garifuna people, history, and culture. The
website is an online resource for people of Garifuna background to
learn more about their culture and find news on current Garifuna
cultural activities.Among the work he has compiled about art and music
of Garifuna people, Colon did extensive research on victims of the
Happyland Fire, a fire that killed many people who were thought to be
of Garifuna background. One of the victims of the tragedy was Colon's
cousin.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.