CRS Report Indigenous Peoples in Latin America
This report provides statistical information on Indigenous peoples in Latin America, including populations and languages, socioeconomic data, land and natural resources, human rights, and international legal conventions.
How Did People Become Property in the Americas?
Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, about 12.5 million men, women, and children were forcibly transported from Africa to the Americas, then forced to work. They were taken by slave traders from England, France, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, United States and Brazil. If the enslaved survived the horrendous conditions of the long sea voyage, they were sold at various ports throughout North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. In the centuries that followed, several million more people of African descent were born into slavery in the Americas.
Instead of one longer documentary, you will be watching 4 shorter videos on the challenges faced by indigenous and mixed-race peoples in Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil.
Guatemala: Mayan Indians (1996) offers an overview of the genocide of Mayans during Guatemala's civil conflict (1960-1996). A majority of the 200,000 Guatemalans killed were indigenous. Mayan Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu is featured for her efforts to formalize indigenous rights in Guatemala
Brazil: Inside the Indigenous Fight to Save the Amazon (2021) discusses the role of indigenous groups and their claims to land ownership in the Amazon.
Colombia: Colombia's Indigenous Land Defenders (2020) showcases Celia Umenza, a Nasa leader of a civilian defense force that organized to protect indigenous territories.
Brazil: Black Lives Matter in Brazil (2021) showcases the modern manifestations of the colonial caste system in Brazil with an exploration of police brutality in Afro-Brazilian communities.
CRS Report Indigenous Peoples in Latin America
Source: Carla Y. Davis-Castro, Congressional Research Service (R46225), October 27, 2023, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46225
CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS.
Race and Coerced Labor Part I: How Did People Become Property in the Americas?
Source: Audra Diptee. World History Project Origins to the Present Era 5, https://www.oerproject.com/OER-Materials/OER-Media/PDFs/Origins/Era5/Race-and-Coerced-Labor-Part-I-People-as-Property-in-the-Americas
©2024 OER Project
Mayan Indians (October 1996)
Source: Journeyman Pictures YouTube, May 9, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/@journeyman
Contact: info@journeyman.tv
Inside the Indigenous Fight to Save the Amazon
Source: Vice News YouTube, Oct 14, 2021, www.youtube.com/@VICENews
Licensing contact licensing@vice.com
Colombia's Indigenous Land Defenders| Close Up
Source: Al Jazeera English YouTube, Apr 8, 2020, www.youtube.com/@aljazeeraenglish
Directed by Jesper Klemedsson and Sebastian Pena Rojas
Produced by Recapto
Why Activists Say Brazil's Deadly Police Raids Target Afro-Brazilians
Source: Vice News YouTube, Jun 12, 2021, www.youtube.com/@VICENews
Licensing contact licensing@vice.com