Black in Latin America

Cant go wrong with Dr. Gates. L

Super informative and thought provoking

I've enjoyed almost everything I've seen from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This is an excellent survey of Black African influences in Latin America in a sample of 6 countries. I could happily have watched several more hours, especially since it easily breaks down into shorter, specific viewing. Like many people from the U.S. I believe that there is plenty I could learn about Latin America that I didn't know before, and all of these national/ethnic groups have a presence here in the U.S. who could encounter in my community.

My Grandparents would tell me about many of the historical facts in this series. To all my "Latin" and :Hispanic" friends who wondered how their ancestry DNA test points out over 40% sub-African; watch this series. The truth is told here. Thank you Mr. Gates, for over 500 years of Americas(North, Central and South Americas) history Hispanic history IS NOT separate for "BLACK" history. So technically Black History has 2 months. This was a great purchase!!!

The film confirmed what I had heard that Brazil has lot of work to do in terms of integrating their minorities in everyday society. The book was very insightful on the history of slaves coming there and also the fact the Brazil thought there population was too dark and recruited whites to come and relocate to Brazil. I recommend the film. .

Such an interesting and informative documentary on the history I crave to know more about. My family is from Puerto Rico, and as a woman of color I always looked to connect to my heritage. I showed this doc to my students, many of whom are students of color. They loved it! It was perfect for our module on cultural revolutions. Gates tells a great story and engages viewers in a way that makes you feel as if you were there. I made connections to the history of some cultural dishes to the inquiry of how much of our history has been white washed. A wonderful resource for those looking to see how cultures make exchanges and evolve.

Dr. Gates does an excellent job detailing the history of Blacks in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico and Peru. I never knew France drained a billion dollars of Haiti's treasury in retaliation for the defeat of France in the 1803 Haitian Revolution. French blood sucking only ended in 1947. Nor did I know US-supported Dominican Republic dictator, Rafael Trujillo, even knowing he had Black blood flowing thru his veins, hated Blacks so-much, he had thousands of Haitian and Dominican Blacks slaughtered. I learned it was only after the ouster of another US-supported dictator, Fulgencio Batista, did free health care and 100% literacy come to all Cubans. "Black In Latin America" is filled with such fascinating, though also very tragic, facts. Superlative.

This was one of the best purchases that I made when I was a High School Foreign Language Teacher. During Black History Month, I would show these to my Spanish classes so that they would have more insight into Afro-Hispanic culture and history. These stories helped to expose my students to the side of French/Spanish/Portuguese and African History that they rarely hear about in regular History or Foreign Language classes. I am so glad that Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. took the time to research and create this excellent resource so that I could share this important information with my students.I recommend this DVD to all History and Foreign Language Teachers! It makes for great classroom discussions and collaborative student activities. I had the students compare and contrast all of the stories as well as discuss what they learned and how some of the information affected their perceptions of these cultures.

Living in the English speaking world it is very easy to forget the major influence that people of African descent have had on the character of Latin America. Dr Gates visits some of Latin America's most well-known countries to discover how African people have left their mark there not just as slaves, but also as leaders, traders, artist and more."Black in Latin America" is an excellent documentary well presented by Dr Gates and recommended viewing.

very powerful .informative and eye opening research is well done and very interesting as i like history because there are always two sides to the story unfortunately history has also shown us that its always those who hold the pen who get to tell the story so was very good to see it from the other perspective shame this is not taught in our schools its left out i wonder why?i will leave you with that thought

This is a must watch for anyone interested in the Historical background of Black folk in Latin America. It is well made and it's good value for the purchase price. I will gladly recommend it.