Independence and Racial Equality

     During the early 1800s, many Latin American Revolutions occurred. The reason for these revolutions was independence and racial equality. In Latin America, your race would determine how high or low you ranked on the social class ladder. These ranks determined who you could marry, what clothes you could wear, and other ridiculous regulations. In class we discussed these irrational laws and how human value shouldn't matter by a person's ethnic background, but instead the type of person they are and what they are able to accomplish. To learn more about these revolutions, our class broke up into groups and read articles explaining the key events that happened during the revolutions in Mexico, Brazil, and Gran Colombia. Then our groups collaborated with other groups of different topics to further expand and share our information.

Time Line of Mexican Key Revoltutions:

• In the early 19th century- Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla "father of Mexican indepence" launched a rebellion where him and his army came close to capturing the Mexican capital. He was later captured and executed. His followers were against royalists. 
• In 1820- liberals took power in Spain, and the new government promised change in the government. Mexican conservatives called for independence 
• In early 1821- the leader of the royalists forces, Agustín de Iturbide negotiated the plan of Iguala which states that Mexico would be established as an independent constitutional monarchy, postition of the Catholic Church would be maintained, and Mexicans of Spanish decent descent would be regarded as equal to Spaniards. 
• On August 24, 1821- Spanish Viceroy Juan de O'Donojú signed the Treaty of Córdoba , this approves a plan to make Mexico an independent constitutional monarchy 
• In 1822- Iturbide was proclaimed the emperor of Mexico bc no Bourbon monarch to rule had been found. Empire was short lived 
• In 1823- republican leaders Santa Anna and Guadalaupe Victoria deposed Iturbide and set up a republic, with Guadalupe Victoria as it's first president 

     In the jigsaw, we discovered two commonalities between the three routes to independence. One of those being the fact that all of the "enemies" of the Latin American countries were European. Another commonality is that all of these revolutions occurred during the early 1800s. A difference we discovered is that all of these revolutions happened in different places. These revolutions were all different from one another, but all faced a similar challenge, race. In Mexico, Miguel Hidalgo y Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla had to face the racist royalists who took land away from the Indians and mestizos. In Brazil, mine workers revolted because they had to do tireless jobs just because of their ethnic background. And finally, in Gran Colombia, a new political pamphlet addressed to citizens suggests a united effort to expel the Spaniards.

     Even in our world today, racist stereotypes and judgments are constantly being thought and disccused in society. In the past few months I've heard of many news stories that has race as an issue. One of those being when Food Network's Paula Deen discriminated against African American people. This caused controversy which lead with her getting kicked off the Food Network. Personally, I do think it is still important to consider the issue of race in our lives today, since it still is a problem that needs to be abolished. 

"The Haitian Revolution." The Haitian Revolution. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/haitian-revolution.htm>.