Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000

Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000

Oxford University Press
May 2004
304 pages
15 illus. & 3 maps; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4
Hardback ISBN13: 9780195152326; ISBN10: 0195152328
Paperback ISBN13: 978-0-19-515233-3; ISBN10: 0-19-515233-6

George Reid Andrews, Distinguished Professor of History
University of Pittsburgh

Winner of the Arthur P. Whitaker Prize of the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies

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 peoples 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.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: i8oo
  • Chapter 2: “An Exterminating Bolt of Lightning”: The Wars for Freedom, 1810-1890
  • Chapter 3: “Our New Citizens, the Blacks”: The Politics of Freedom, 1810-1890
  • Chapter 4: “A Transfusion of New Blood”: Whitening, 1880-1930
  • Chapter 5: Browning and Blackening, 1930-2000
  • Chapter 6: Into the Twenty-First Century: 2000 and Beyond
  • Appendix: Population Counts, 1800-2000
  • Glossary
  • Notes
  • Selected Bibliography
  • Index
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