"Los negros de Esmeraldas," oil painting by Andrés Sánchez Gallque,
Museo de América, Madrid

Africa in the Americas

From the 1500s to the 1800s, the great majority of immigrants to the New World were Africans who came against their will. They were taken to all reaches of the Americas, but almost 90% went to Portuguese and Spanish territories. Their labor created the prosperity of the New World, and they stamped the evolving cultures with an indelible African character.

Black Slaves in Spanish and Portuguese Realms of the New World
A Humanities Exhibition
Texas Humanities Resource Center
Austin, Texas
Organized by Dr. Mary Grizzard

Funded by
National Endowment for the Humanities
With additional support from
T.L.L. Temple Foundation
Texas Council for the Humanities