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Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000
While the rise and abolition of slavery and ongoing race relations are central themes of the history of the United States, the African diaspora actually had a far greater impact on Latin and Central America. More than ten times as many Africans came to Spanish and Portuguese America as the United States.
In this, the first history of the African diaspora in Latin America from emancipation to the present, George Reid Andrews deftly synthesizes the history of people of African descent in every Latin American country from Mexico and the Caribbean to Argentina. He examines how African peooples and their descendants made their way from slavery to freedom and how they helped shape and responded to political, economic, and cultural changes in their societies. Individually and collectively they pursued the goals of freedom, equality, and citizenship through military service, political parties, civic organizations, labor unions, religious activity, and other avenues.
Spanning two centuries, this tour de force should be read by anyone interested in Latin American history, the history of slavery, and the African diaspora, as well as the future of Latin America.
In this, the first history of the African diaspora in Latin America from emancipation to the present, George Reid Andrews deftly synthesizes the history of people of African descent in every Latin American country from Mexico and the Caribbean to Argentina. He examines how African peooples and their descendants made their way from slavery to freedom and how they helped shape and responded to political, economic, and cultural changes in their societies. Individually and collectively they pursued the goals of freedom, equality, and citizenship through military service, political parties, civic organizations, labor unions, religious activity, and other avenues.
Spanning two centuries, this tour de force should be read by anyone interested in Latin American history, the history of slavery, and the African diaspora, as well as the future of Latin America.
304 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2004
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About the author
George Reid Andrews
15 books2 followers George Reid Andrews is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 8, 2020
Livro muito interessante do George Andrews sobre a população negra latino-americana. Eu acho difícil resumir a história da população negra latina em um livro de cerca de 200 páginas e a organização do livro, dividido por tema-período e não regionalmente, contribui para simplificações que as recorrentes analogias exigem. Teria sido mais interessante uma divisão regional, agregando países com história similar da população negra (como Brasil e Cuba) e só então, dentro dessa divisão, discutir os temas: mobilização civil e cultura, educação, mercado de trabalho e terra.
O que achei mais interessante foi a visão que parece ser subjacente ao longo do livro, qual seja, a de que a história de negros latinos entre 1800 e 2000 é uma história de emancipação gradual de um povo a que foi imposto o papel de oprimido no sistema colonial. Inicialmente, essa emancipação foi construída através de micro-resistências que lograram criar uma sociedade com um sistema de hierarquia muito mais complexo do que a dualidade idealizada pelo colonialismo. Em certa medida, as gradações raciais latinas (i.e.,preto, mulato, criolo) que não encontram paralelo nos EUA, refletem essa sociedade complexa criada por anos de lutas informais. Essa visão da questão racial latino-americana é interessante e me ajudou a entender melhor o próprio processo de abolição e pós-abolição no Brasil.
Recomendo a leitura para quem quer ter uma introdução ao tema, mas conhecer melhor a questão realmente exige a leitura de obras que tratam de cada país separadamente.
O que achei mais interessante foi a visão que parece ser subjacente ao longo do livro, qual seja, a de que a história de negros latinos entre 1800 e 2000 é uma história de emancipação gradual de um povo a que foi imposto o papel de oprimido no sistema colonial. Inicialmente, essa emancipação foi construída através de micro-resistências que lograram criar uma sociedade com um sistema de hierarquia muito mais complexo do que a dualidade idealizada pelo colonialismo. Em certa medida, as gradações raciais latinas (i.e.,preto, mulato, criolo) que não encontram paralelo nos EUA, refletem essa sociedade complexa criada por anos de lutas informais. Essa visão da questão racial latino-americana é interessante e me ajudou a entender melhor o próprio processo de abolição e pós-abolição no Brasil.
Recomendo a leitura para quem quer ter uma introdução ao tema, mas conhecer melhor a questão realmente exige a leitura de obras que tratam de cada país separadamente.
April 21, 2016
"This has sought to show how Afro-Latin Americans responded to the challenges, dilemmas, ordeals, and opportunities created by large-scale processes of economic and political development. In so doing, people of color helped forge a history of nation- and state-building, democratization, and social and political reform that transformed the life of the region."
" Quiero contarle mi hermano un pedacito de la historia negra, de la historia nuestra, caballero. " La Rebelion by Joe Arroyo.
This book was a very well written introduction to the history of Afro-Latinos in Latin America. It was written by a man who is pretty much one of THE preeminent scholars on the subject, George Reid Andrews. In this book, which states it is covering 200 years of history (though really it starts in the 1500s and ends around 2002) we see the often overlooked history of African-descended people who lived south of the Rio Grande. This is one of many books I have been reading and will continue to read as a part of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent. Though I know much about my own ethnicity (African-American), I have only since 2009-10 started to become interested in other ethnicities of African origin. Afro-Latinos are ,by far the largest Black ethnic group outside of Africa and a natural place to start.
The contrast between how enslaved Africans in Latin America and those in Anglo-North America responded to the hardships of life during and after slavery is interesting. The ways that increased numbers helped and possibly hindered Afro-Latinos was a revelation. I also really got to examine how the Latin American creation myth of "racial democracy" compared to the U.S.'s "melting pot" myth and has been such an effective tool in stopping Afro-Latinos from pushing for more civil rights, while simultaneously cementing the alliance of the Whites and well-off Mestizos as an organized polity.
I wish I could explore the many great facts that are in this book more: Brazil's "Great Emancipator" Emperor Pedro II, the deliberate decimation of many Afro-Argentines during the country's Independence and border wars, the impact that West Indian migration had on Central America, Mexico's Black generals during its independence struggle, the island of Hispaniola, and the extent that Black Power in the United States had in reinvigorating Afro-Latino culture throughout the region (just to name a few).
I had to accept the fact that as good as this book is, it is only an overview and one has to go further to get a more detailed view. Reid Andrews, for his part, has studied Brazil and Uruguay in particular. The bibliography and endnotes will also serve those who want a pre-21st century look at Afro-Latin America. This, of course, gets to other limitation of this (and all contemporary) historical work. Because it only goes to 2002, a lot of the political changes that have taken place since the turn of the millennium (specifically when Hugo Chavez, who gets a quick sentence, and the other "Bolivarians" came to power) is not accounted for. The use of social media and impact of interaction with African-American culture post-2000s is also absent. Reid Andrews did make some guesses at what the future of people will bring, but I can not say he could have imagined what is and what is still taking place (just a few months ago, in November/December 2015, Mexico started counting its Afro-Latino population after over a hundred of deliberately ignoring them).
"Racial politics, so much a part of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, will be with us well into the twenty-first century, and perhaps beyond. Would that it did not have to be so." - Last two sentences of book.
" Quiero contarle mi hermano un pedacito de la historia negra, de la historia nuestra, caballero. " La Rebelion by Joe Arroyo.
This book was a very well written introduction to the history of Afro-Latinos in Latin America. It was written by a man who is pretty much one of THE preeminent scholars on the subject, George Reid Andrews. In this book, which states it is covering 200 years of history (though really it starts in the 1500s and ends around 2002) we see the often overlooked history of African-descended people who lived south of the Rio Grande. This is one of many books I have been reading and will continue to read as a part of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent. Though I know much about my own ethnicity (African-American), I have only since 2009-10 started to become interested in other ethnicities of African origin. Afro-Latinos are ,by far the largest Black ethnic group outside of Africa and a natural place to start.
The contrast between how enslaved Africans in Latin America and those in Anglo-North America responded to the hardships of life during and after slavery is interesting. The ways that increased numbers helped and possibly hindered Afro-Latinos was a revelation. I also really got to examine how the Latin American creation myth of "racial democracy" compared to the U.S.'s "melting pot" myth and has been such an effective tool in stopping Afro-Latinos from pushing for more civil rights, while simultaneously cementing the alliance of the Whites and well-off Mestizos as an organized polity.
I wish I could explore the many great facts that are in this book more: Brazil's "Great Emancipator" Emperor Pedro II, the deliberate decimation of many Afro-Argentines during the country's Independence and border wars, the impact that West Indian migration had on Central America, Mexico's Black generals during its independence struggle, the island of Hispaniola, and the extent that Black Power in the United States had in reinvigorating Afro-Latino culture throughout the region (just to name a few).
I had to accept the fact that as good as this book is, it is only an overview and one has to go further to get a more detailed view. Reid Andrews, for his part, has studied Brazil and Uruguay in particular. The bibliography and endnotes will also serve those who want a pre-21st century look at Afro-Latin America. This, of course, gets to other limitation of this (and all contemporary) historical work. Because it only goes to 2002, a lot of the political changes that have taken place since the turn of the millennium (specifically when Hugo Chavez, who gets a quick sentence, and the other "Bolivarians" came to power) is not accounted for. The use of social media and impact of interaction with African-American culture post-2000s is also absent. Reid Andrews did make some guesses at what the future of people will bring, but I can not say he could have imagined what is and what is still taking place (just a few months ago, in November/December 2015, Mexico started counting its Afro-Latino population after over a hundred of deliberately ignoring them).
"Racial politics, so much a part of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, will be with us well into the twenty-first century, and perhaps beyond. Would that it did not have to be so." - Last two sentences of book.
April 6, 2021
I began this book with very little background in South American history, much less Afro-Latin histroy.
Reid Andrews provided, then, a guide to an entire region that stretched from an era of heavy enslavement (Latin America enslaved more than ten times the people as the United States) to liberation to the modern era, focusing heavily on the plight of Africans.
Tracing the history of liberation, he shows that enslaved people mobilized for legal rights every early. Then as liberal movements swept through Latin America, Afro-Latins mobilized to fight for liberty and an end to colonial rule. In exchange for their support, they gradually obtained more and more exceptions to caste and slave rules, and eventually they achieved an end to slavery. Far different from the United States, liberation was negotiated and achieved by the enslaved, while enslaved Americans were able to take relatively small roles in the conflict over Independence and the Civil War.
It took South American countries decades to integrate Afro-Latins into their respective cultures. For a period around the turn of the 20th Century, national leaders pursued programs of "whitening," offering incentives for Europeans to migrate in order to change the ethnic make-up of states like Brazil and Argentina. This era ended with the Great Depression (and the rise of Fascism in Europe).
Reid Andrews also shows that the embrace of African music and custom was a long time coming: imagine an era when Salsa music was suppressed in Cuba, or when Carnival was heavily regulated in Rio. In the latter half of the 20th Century, these latent Afro-Latin impulses were revified and celebrated.
This book is a good overall view of cultural development in Latin America, and a fine focus on a key ethnic group in the region.
Reid Andrews provided, then, a guide to an entire region that stretched from an era of heavy enslavement (Latin America enslaved more than ten times the people as the United States) to liberation to the modern era, focusing heavily on the plight of Africans.
Tracing the history of liberation, he shows that enslaved people mobilized for legal rights every early. Then as liberal movements swept through Latin America, Afro-Latins mobilized to fight for liberty and an end to colonial rule. In exchange for their support, they gradually obtained more and more exceptions to caste and slave rules, and eventually they achieved an end to slavery. Far different from the United States, liberation was negotiated and achieved by the enslaved, while enslaved Americans were able to take relatively small roles in the conflict over Independence and the Civil War.
It took South American countries decades to integrate Afro-Latins into their respective cultures. For a period around the turn of the 20th Century, national leaders pursued programs of "whitening," offering incentives for Europeans to migrate in order to change the ethnic make-up of states like Brazil and Argentina. This era ended with the Great Depression (and the rise of Fascism in Europe).
Reid Andrews also shows that the embrace of African music and custom was a long time coming: imagine an era when Salsa music was suppressed in Cuba, or when Carnival was heavily regulated in Rio. In the latter half of the 20th Century, these latent Afro-Latin impulses were revified and celebrated.
This book is a good overall view of cultural development in Latin America, and a fine focus on a key ethnic group in the region.
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April 15, 2008new title: lies my daddy told me about latin america
March 26, 2018
Andrews excellently breaks down Latin America's racial history from the times of slavery to the modern day. He argues that Latin America's racial policies of whitening, for example in Brazil and Cuba, were highly damaging to its race relation. He also highlights how these two nations, the last to end slavery, made a last ditch grab for as many slaves as possible in the late 19th century. This import of slaves greatly changed the two countries racial makeup.
Despite being the last two countries to abolish slavery, they were also some of the earliest to introduce the idea of being a 'racial democracy'. Andrews breaks down many of the myths of a 'racial democracy' and offers evidence for racist policies that continued well into the 20th century. For example, in Castro's Cuba, he highlights that black reading groups were made illegal in the 70s as the country dismissed race as being an issue. Andrews clarifies the extent of the issue by showing the large wealth disparity between blacks and mixed raced folks. A trend that actually increased in the 70s and 80s and has only recently started to be combatted with affirmative action in Brazil.
Despite being the last two countries to abolish slavery, they were also some of the earliest to introduce the idea of being a 'racial democracy'. Andrews breaks down many of the myths of a 'racial democracy' and offers evidence for racist policies that continued well into the 20th century. For example, in Castro's Cuba, he highlights that black reading groups were made illegal in the 70s as the country dismissed race as being an issue. Andrews clarifies the extent of the issue by showing the large wealth disparity between blacks and mixed raced folks. A trend that actually increased in the 70s and 80s and has only recently started to be combatted with affirmative action in Brazil.
May 4, 2019
Really great way to grasping some of the complex and intricate nature of the process of nation building and racism. As well as a fantastic insight on the mesmerizing accomplishments of Afro-Latin American communities throughout the continent. The book also gives a very wide analysis on several aspects of the history of political, economical, social and cultural lives of black communities in Latin America.
September 17, 2019
An important book on the history of blackness in Latin America.
December 29, 2020
This really is an excellent book. The author divides the book into 6 chapters:
Chapter 1 - 1800: about the status of Africans at the very end of the Spanish Empire.
Chapter 2 - The Wars for Freedom 1810 - 1890: about both independence wars and rebellions against slavery.
Chapter 3 - The Politics of Freedom 1810 - 1880: about the political status of freed Africans and their lives as new citizens.
Chapter 4 - Whitening 1880 - 1930: about attempts by Latin American governments to whiten their countries by importing more European immigrants to counterbalance the Black population.
Chapter 5 - Browning and Blackening 1930 - 2000: about how the above attempt didn't work, and how Afro Latin-Americans became demographically and politically more significant in certain countries.
Chapter 6 - Into the Twenty-First Century 2000 and Beyond: about the status of Afro-Latin Americans in different countries.
What I like about this book is how it integrated many different themes - the macro-history of trends and laws and wars as well as the micro-history of individual communities and persons, written texts and photographs and statistics, and the diversity of experiences and histories across the region.
Chapter 1 - 1800: about the status of Africans at the very end of the Spanish Empire.
Chapter 2 - The Wars for Freedom 1810 - 1890: about both independence wars and rebellions against slavery.
Chapter 3 - The Politics of Freedom 1810 - 1880: about the political status of freed Africans and their lives as new citizens.
Chapter 4 - Whitening 1880 - 1930: about attempts by Latin American governments to whiten their countries by importing more European immigrants to counterbalance the Black population.
Chapter 5 - Browning and Blackening 1930 - 2000: about how the above attempt didn't work, and how Afro Latin-Americans became demographically and politically more significant in certain countries.
Chapter 6 - Into the Twenty-First Century 2000 and Beyond: about the status of Afro-Latin Americans in different countries.
What I like about this book is how it integrated many different themes - the macro-history of trends and laws and wars as well as the micro-history of individual communities and persons, written texts and photographs and statistics, and the diversity of experiences and histories across the region.
May 24, 2012
Though I have not read much about Latin America, this is the single best history I have read of the continent. Although the book does jump around a fair amount, I still found this book to be very helpful in explaining the processes of Latin American history. I find it very telling that my sociology professor, Edward Telles, is a big fan of this book.
April 16, 2012
Title is self-explanatory. Argues that afro-latin americans played a big part shaping the region because though creoles engineered revolutions, the winners got the poor class. General history but shows events from 1800-2000 with afro-lam viewpoint.
August 21, 2022
Read this one for school.
207 pg's
207 pg's
June 30, 2014
extremely informative and education -- a true learning experience
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews