What is the racial legacy of Colonialism?

Latin America was ruled by a very small White population during the reign of the Spanish Monarchy in America. The Spanish wanted to create a two-class society of the whites and everyone else. Because of their small numbers and the “relative absence of west European women in the migratory currents to the new continent….Spaniards frequently married the daughters of the Amerindian nobility…” (Chasteen & Wood p.4).

This mixing of blood created other classes, the mestizos and mulattoes just to name a few. This proved problematic for the Spanish because those with mixed blood and even those with Spanish blood, but born in American created or where placed in different classes. In fact those who were the product of racial mixtures, often became “artisans, wage laborers, or…vagabonds or vagrants….Accepted neither by Whites nor Amerindians…” (Chasteen & Wood p.5). These people became the undesirable part of Latin American communities.

From the very beginning of Latin American occupation by the Spanish, there was always a distinction between caste, blood and color. Today at least in Mexico, these distinctions have endured. I lived in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico for just over a year and I was simply appalled by how people are treated based on their physical traits and appearance.

The state of Oaxaca is one of the poorest states in the Mexican union. Mexico can be divided into north and south. Northerners are for the most part light skinned, average height people. In the south people are dark and short. This is a generalization that I witness and not one of my own. It was noticeable that most people in power in the state of Oaxaca where tall and light skinned people while almost without fail a dark and short person can be identified as poor or at least socially unimportant. It is also safe to say that the northern states are the most powerful and rich states in Mexico while the southern states remain in poverty and always last in the list of governmental priorities.

Mexican law has abolished royalty tittles but has inherited the Spanish colonial need and custom of addressing others so to identify class and social status. Any one who has completed their bachillerato (bachelors degree) is addressed as “licensiado” which can be loosely translated as bachelor (in this case one whom has completed a bachelors degree). This serves only the purpose of identifying social class. It is well known that the poor cannot attend school and much less complete a college career. Then there is the second rate class of “technicos” or technicians. I was part of this class since I worked as an x-ray technician. I was introduced as “technico, Victor Hernandez” although my co-workers knew that I resented the introduction, not because I was considered a second class citizen but because I disagreed with the need to want to identify one self as part of a social class or status.


Chasteen, John Charles and Wood, James A. eds. Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, Inc.,
2004.