Skip Gates Has New PBS Special on Race
A new installment of Princeton Professor Henry Louis Gates' trilogy aired last night on PBS.The four-part series, Black in Latin America will run every Tuesday at 8pm until May, 10. The show examines how African, Indigenous and European cultures combined to create the diverse population and rich customs of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Gates' first program, Wonders of the African World, aired in 1999 and looked at the relationship between Africa and the New World, followed by America Beyond the Color Line in 2004 which, explored the experiences of African Americans today. Like it's predecessors, Black in Latin America promises to be dynamic and educational, alerting viewers that the 11 million Africans brought to Latin America (25 times the number brought to the U.S. during the Atlantic Slave trade) are still a prominent cultural force in each society.
Fascinating facts discussed on the series include: Brazil has one of the largest Black populations in the world, second only to Nigeria; and Mexicans and Peruvians of African-descent are fighting to be acknowledged as "black" on their respective national censuses.
Check your local listings and tune in next week.
(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)