Bartolomé de las Casas and 500 Years of Racial Injustice

Las Casas became an important figure in the development of ideas of human rights.

Bartolomé de las Casas, sickened by the exploitation and physical degradation of the indigenous peoples in the Spanish colonies of the Caribbean, gave up his extensive land holdings and slaves and traveled to his homeland in Spain in 1515 to petition the Spanish Crown to stop the abuses that European colonists were inflicting upon the natives of the New World.

Learn more about Bartolomé de las Casas in this video written by Dani Anthony with narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle.

Audio production by Scott Sprague and Paul Kotheimer, College of Arts & Sciences Academic Technology Services. Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. 

We thank the Stanton Foundation for their funding of this and other Origins projects. http://thestantonfoundation.org/