Black in Latin America

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the genial but passionate host of this four-part PBS program that, essentially, follows him on a walking tour of six countries—Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru—as he points out the enormous contributions that African slaves made to their economies and cultures (putting special emphasis on African influence in music and religion). Through interviews with scholars, artists (particularly musicians), and ordinary folk he meets on the street, Gates also documents that even where governments claim that racism has been eradicated (most notably in Cuba and Brazil), it still persists—taking pains to point out that in countries with direct American intervention (Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba), the interlopers brought segregationist attitudes with them and worsened the situation. While Gates finds that a truly color-blind society has not emerged even in the other nations, he celebrates those countries—Mexico and Peru especially—which have come closest to attaining the ideal. Black in Latin America is more anecdotal than analytical, but it brings welcome attention to racial relations in a region that not only imported far more African slaves than North America but also one where slavery often persisted longer than in the United States. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)