The Latin American Revolutions: Three Different Stories

Recently, in class, we completed a shorter lesson on the Latin American Revolutions. Revolution has been a large aspect of what we have been learning in history, and this lesson deepened our understanding of not just revolution, but race as well. At the start of the lesson, we completed a few small activities to better our understanding of the Latin American Revolutions. In class, we separated in groups and each group was assigned a different revolution. Therefore, at the end of the lesson, we could share our findings and observations about each revolution. The three Latin American revolutions are the Mexico, Brazil, and Gran Columbia revolutions. My group was assigned the Gran Columbia revolution. Upon being assigned our revolution, we read an excerpt about it and then created our own time line of events. However, before we did this, we explored the ethnic makeup of the colonies during the revolutions, and colored in a pie chart to show the differing percentages of race. Indian people were the largest part of the pie chart, while Peninsulars made up only one percent of the population.Aside from the biggest and the smallest percentages, there were also the creoles, Mestizos, Mullattoes, and slaves which completed the rest of the pie chart. By doing this, we could gain a better understanding of the impact of race on the Latin America revolutions. Additionally, after each group studied their revolutions, we split up and shared our revolution with other groups. Therefore, we could compare all three revolutions and discuss the similarities and differences between them. The essential question for this lesson was, “Why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race? How are the events in the Latin America revolutions evidence of this social imperative?” This question was important to think about because race did have a large role in the revolutions, and judgments regarding race are still made in society today.

Between all three revolutions, there were many similarities, as well as differences. Shown below, I have provided some of these similarities and differences, as well as a timeline of events of the Gran Columbia revolution.

Differences:

1.      All three revolutions have different leaders. The Brazil Revolution’s leader was Pedro, while the Mexican Revolution’s leader was Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. Lastly, the leader of the Gran Columbian revolution was Simon Bolivar.

2.      All the revolutions that occurred were not all revolutions that included fighting. The revolution in Brazil was the only peaceful transition to independence, and the Mexico and Gran Columbia revolutions both included fighting for independence.

Similarities:

1.      All three revolutions occur around the same time period, specifically the 19^th century. (1800s)

2.      All three revolutions were revolutions that fought for independence, although they were very different and were led by different leaders.

 

 

 

 

Although all three revolutions took different routes to independence, race was an issue in all three. Starting off with the Gran Columbian revolution, the leader, Simon Bolivar was a creole. In his army, there are many people of difference races. He is leading an army made up of Mestizos and Malattoes, which together are going against the Peninsulars. Their goal is to end Spanish rule, hoping it will end the Spanish Caste system, which is divided by race. Simon Bolivar was able to get many people of difference races to fight against the peninsulars, making race a large aspect of this revolution. Bolivar’s dream was freedom for all races in the Americas. Aside from the Gran Columbian revolution, there was also the Brazilian revolution lead by Pedro. Race played a big part in this revolution as well. Despite his role in leading Brazil to independence, Pedro soon starts to lose a lot of support from his people. Many of them opposed the new constitution written under his supervision and enacted in 1824. They were also displeased when he overrode the decision of the newly created Brazilian parliament and surrounded himself with Portuguese-born cabinet ministers Pedro only allowed Peninsulars in his government, so people started to resent him, and we displeased with him as well. Pedro is a peninsular and he becomes less and less popular. The race issue comes into play because the new king is discriminating against people in terms of who gets to have key positions in the government. Race had a large role in the Mexican revolution as well. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was the leader of this revolution, and launched the Mexican War of Independence. Miguel wanted to end the three hundred years of Spanish rule in Mexico, and in return he hoped for redistribution of land and racial equality. The Mestizos (who were lower on the Spanish Caste System) made up the army, which marched to Mexico City to fight for their independence and racial equality.

 

In today’s world, race undoubtedly is still a growing problem, although many people choose not to address it. Judgments based on race are made every day, and sometimes people don’t even realize that they are judging someone. Lately in the news, there have been many cases where race plays a large role in the issue or crime. Ferguson has been a developing issue in recent months. On August 9^th, 2014, an 18 year old black man was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. The reason behind this fatal shooting has been investigated for months, and many people believe that racism may have had a role in this shooting. Following the shooting, there have been many protests regarding Justice for Michael Brown, the victim, and protests regarding civil rights and equality. People like Darren Wilson may not seem racist, but they very well could be. Many people find the topic of racism to be embarrassing or one that they do not want to talk about, but it is a growing problem, and this event shows that judgments regarding race are still made today. Aside from Ferguson, many people of African American decent are discriminated against when it comes to finding a job, and in any aspect of their everyday life. In my opinion, I do believe that it is still important to consider the issue of race in our lives today. Although many people fail to address it, racism is an issue that affects many people. There may not be signs above bathrooms saying, “Whites only”, but it is an issue, as was in beginning of this country. Both publicly and secretly it factors many things: relationships, jobs, friendships, and then some. This occurs with not just blacks, but many other races as well.