AND THAT'S A FACT...

     ...BLACK PEOPLE ACCOMPANIED THE EARLY MISSIONARIES AND EXPLORERS OF THE NEW WORLD.  THESE PRIESTS, IN PARTICULAR, WERE CREDITED WITH SOFTENING LATIN AMERICAN SLAVERY BECAUSE THEY CONSIDERED THESE ENSLAVED AFRICANS TO BE PERSONS WITH IMMORTAL SOULS.
   
     THE SLAVERY THAT DEVELOPED IN THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE COLONIES WAS DIFFERENT, IN A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT RESPECTS, FROM THE SYSTEM OF BONDAGE DEVELOPED IN NORTH AMERICA. IN LATIN AMERICA, A POWERFUL CATHOLIC CHURCH, INTERESTED IN THE SOUL OF THE ENSLAVED AFRICANS, PROTECTED THEM FROM MANY ABUSES.

     IN AMERICA, NO CHURCH OR ANY OTHER POWER DARED TELL A SLAVEHOLDER HOW TO TREAT HIS SLAVES. THE CHURCH IN LATIN AMERICA ENCOURAGED OWNERS TO LIBERATE SLAVES WHO BECAME CHRISTIANS. MARRIAGES BETWEEN BLACKS AND WHITES WERE NOT OPPOSED BY THE CHURCH, AND LATIN AMERICAN SLAVERY WAS NOT INFECTED BY RACIAL PREJUDICE.



***Eyewitness: The Negro in American History - William Loren Katz