Father Bartolome de las Casas

Father Bartolomé de Las Casas (1474-1566)

Considered by some to be a saint and by others to be a fanatic and close to insanity. Las Casas to this day is still very much an icon. He is the symbol of justice and the fight for human rights in Latin America. He led the way for many peoples fight for freedom and human rights. So, no matter what people thought of this Dominican monk, he made a great influence in the life and culture of the world.

Las Casas was born in Spain and studied in the Cathedral school of Sevillana. He came to Hispaniola with the expedition of Nicholas de Ovando in 1502. He participated in some campaigns of conquest on the island and left for Rome in 1507. When he returned was granted an allotment of Indians by Diego Columbus.

Padre las Casas was the first to hold mass for the Indians in the Americas. A sermon of Fray Pedro of Cordova in favor of the Indians helped to unite the fight in the defense of the exploded Taino Indians. He intervened with the head of the Dominican priests to look for the solution to problem of the indigenous peoples. As of that moment, the young priest became the lawyer of the mistreated Native race. With that aim he traveled to Spain, where he met with King Fernando the Catholic, at the end of 1515. He gained nothing with that interview.

After the Death of Fernando, Cardinal Cisneros replaced him in the Court. Finally with Cardinal Cisneros at the head Bartolomé was able to form a group, administered by Spaniards and helped by monks, to aid the indigenous peoples of the island. Still, the people in charge did not want to give freedom to the Indians.

Las Casas returned to Spain, where meeting with the new Monarch Carlos V, proposed new plans to improve the life of the Indians. One of the proposals of the Father the Houses was the one to replace the indigenous population with black Africans. This proposal was accepted but it did not improve the situation of the Indian. The Indians of Hispanola disappeared quickly, in spite of the effort of Las Casas to protect them.

When there were very few Indians left on the island Las Casas went to the new conquered territories and continued with his defense of the natives. He was against the violent conquest of the territories and always protested against the great slaughtering carried on by the conquerors. He fought in several locations of South and Central America trying to prevent the extermination of the Indians. While in Peru he preached against the violence of Pizarro in the conquest of the Incan Empire. For this reason he was transferred and imprisoned in Santo Domingo in 1533.

Bartolomé continued his fight in 1535 when he was released and continued on to Central America. In Guatemala he made an attempt of pacific conquest.

Las Casas fought for the rights of the Indians until his death in 1566. He wrote several important works about the conquest and Spanish colonization in Las Americas. The books "Apologética" and the "Historia de Las Indias" (History of the Indians") are the most recognized.

A little about the author:

Lawrence A. Clayton

Clayton was born October 5, 1942, in Summit, New Jersey. He went to Peru with his parents in 1945 where he lived for seven years. He attended Duke University (B.A., 1964), and earned his M.A. (1969) and Ph.D. (1972) at Tulane University in Latin American History. From 1964-1966 he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy on the USS Donner (LSD-20) in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.

He joined the faculty of the University of Alabama in 1972. He directed the Latin American Studies Program from 1980 to 1992. In 1979-1980 he served as a special history consultant to W. R. Grace & Co. in New York. He directed the Graduate Program in History 1995-1998 and has been Chairman of the Department since 2000.

He held two Senior Fulbright Lecturing Awards, one in 1983 to Costa Rica and one in 1988 to Peru. Other awards and grants have been received from the University of Alabama Research Grants Committee, the Shell International Studies Program, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Defense Educational Agency, the Mellon Foundation, and the Pew Evangelical Scholars Program. He is a member of the history honorary, Phi Alpha Theta, and Omicron Delta Kappa, the leadership honorary. In 1983 he served as President of the South Eastern Council on Latin American Studies.

Some of his publications include Caulkers and Carpenters in a New World (Athens, Ohio, 1980); The Bolivarian Nations (Arlington Heights, Illinois, 1984); Alabama and the Borderlands: From Prehistory to Statehood (Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1985); Grace, W. R. Grace & Co., The Formative Years, 1850-1930 (Ottawa, Illinois, 1985); The Hispanic Experience in North America: Sources for Study in the United States (Columbus, Ohio, 1992); The DeSoto Chronicles (Tuscaloosa, 1993); A History of Modern Latin America, co-authored (Fort Worth, Texas, 1999; 2nd ed. Wadsworth, Thompson, 2004); and Peru and the United States: The Condor and the Eagle (Univ. of Georgia Press, Athens, Ga, 1999). A translation, Peru y los EE.UU., 1800-1995 was published in Lima, Peru in 1998, 2nd. Ed. 2002.

He is working on a biography of Father Bartolomé de las Casas, sixteenth century protector of the American Indians.

His hobbies include flying a vintage twin-engined Cessna 337 (Skymaster), riding a Honda Shadow over the open roads, and keeping up with his wife Louise and teenage son Carlton in tennis. Oldest daughter Amy is a plastic surgeon at the University of Michigan School of Medicine while daughter Stephanie is a human resource specialist in Portland, Oregon..

Clayton often works with Spanish-speaking inmates in the Tuscaloosa County Jail as part of a Christian Prison Ministries Program.

March 31, 1493, Seville

He almost tripped into one of the many stagnant pools of sewage dotting the gutter running down the center of Calle Sierpes, racing down the narrow, sinuous street after morning mass in his parish church of San Salvador. Nimbly he darted over piles of dung and the other stinking detritus that fouled all medieval cities. Bartholomew was headed for the Cathedral, the center of the city, where the Admiral was expected for High Mass. He paused briefly at a fountain with cool water splashing down from the spouts.

The fragrance of new orange blossoms in a patio drifted out into the street and he breathed in the sweet smells. He splashed his face and took a drink from the stream of water splashing into his cupped hands.

Springing up from the fountain, Bartholomew resumed his plunge down towards the center of the city, determined to get a good view of the Admiral and his entourage. His father Pedro and uncles had been talking about the Admiral's voyage for months. Now, finally, he had returned.

Christopher Columbus arrived in Seville on Palm Sunday, March 31, 1493. In his entourage marched seven Taino Indians captured in the Caribbean. Dressed in their native feathers and fishbone and gold ornaments, they drew curious stares from the gawking onlookers, as much impressed by the parrots as the strange “Indians.” Young Bartolomé de las Casas, then eight years old, witnessed the procession into the city. It was the most exciting event of his life. It also prefigured a long life that was to follow at this crossroads in the history of mankind. Did the boy, still dressed in his acolyte robes, feel a compassion for these awkward savages who seemed so out of place in medieval Seville?

The Boy in Seville

written by Lawrence A. Clayton

Here are the first few paragraphs from a book that I found to be very interesting about Bartolomé de las Casas.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION GRANTED BY THE AUTHOR, Lawrence A. Clayton

Thanks Lawrence!

For much more on Las Casas please go to http://www.lascasas.org

Father Bartolomé de Las Casas

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