This is a short history of the age of exploration and the conquest of the Americas told through the experience of Bartolomé de las Casas; a Dominican friar who fervently defended the American Indians; and the single most important figure of the period after Columbus. Explores the period known as the Encounter; which was characterized by intensive conflict between Europeans and the people of the Americas following Columbus’s voyages Argues that Las Casas; ‘protector of Indians;' was primarily motivated by Scripture in his crusade for justice and equality for American Indians Draws on the 14 volume Complete Works of Las Casas as a window into his mind and actions Encourages students to understand history through the viewpoint of individuals living it
#1109256 in Books Palgrave Macmillan 2006-02-22 2006-02-05Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .48 x 6.00l; .71 #File Name: 1403960364214 pages
Review
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Overcoming the Delta's OppressionBy James MarshallThis in-depth study of life in four Delta counties--Bolivar; Coahoma; Sunflower; and Washington--examines and compares the lives of sharecropper and tenant farmers to those of black land owners through their oral histories by Kim Lacy Rogers. Although there are cases cited of individuals who manage to overcome the oppressive conditions blacks lived under; one is left with an overwhelmingly disturbing picture of the poverty and oppression experienced by blacks in the Delta of Mississippi; whether sharecropper or land owner.Mississippi today remains one of the very poorest states in the United States and it black citizens are among the most poverty-stricken; obese; and unhealthy in the country. Although some individuals managed to overcome their extreme poverty and rise out of white oppression according to the study; living conditions remain largely the same and those who chose to confront the power structure found themselves thrown off the plantations where they lived and worked. Where they picked and chopped cotton they were replaced by mechanical cotton pickers and chemical defoliants.This study follows the lives of blacks who lived through the civil rights movement's efforts in the rural Delta and the lasting effects it had on them. Where the publishers blurb states; "Their stories are dramatic; moving; and sometimes sad;" I found them extremely depressing and in reality a continuation of the economic oppression experienced by blacks in the Black Belt of the Deep South.This is a must read for anyone who wishes to begin to grasp a picture of the rural Deep South today.
