Directed by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Black in Latin America, a new four-part series about the African influence on Latin America, is the latest production from renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The series examines how Africa and Europe came together to create the rich cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean. Latin America is often associated with music, monuments, and sun, but each of the six countries featured in Black in Latin America – Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru – has a secret history.

On his journey, Professor Gates discovers, behind a shared legacy of colonialism and slavery, vivid stories and people marked by African roots. Latin America and the Caribbean have the largest concentration of people with African ancestry outside Africa – up to 70 percent of the population in some countries. The region imported more than ten times as many slaves as the United States, and kept them in bondage far longer. As Professor Gates travels to these varied countries, he celebrates the massive influence millions of people of African descent had on the history and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean, and considers why and how their contribution is often forgotten or ignored. PBS (2011), English, NR (Not Rated), DVD 2 discs, Run Time: 240 minutes.