Black Legend

The Black Legend (in {{ll|Spanish}}, leyenda negra) is the excessive depiction of Spain and the Spaniards as bloodthirsty and cruel, greedy and fanatical. The term was coined by Julián Juderías in his 1914 book La leyenda negra y la verdad histórica (The black legend and the historical truth). This is contrasted with the White Legend (in Spanish, leyenda rosa, which means rosy legend) which promoted an idealized view of Spaniards. Each term tends to satisfy a certain prejudice.

Black Legend in the United States of America

In his book Tree of Hate, Philip Wayne Powell wrote that the United States of America inherited the Black Legend from the British colonization of the Americas. These Anglo-Saxon prejudices toward Spaniards were transferred to Mexicans in the 19th century.

Related Topics:
Philip Wayne Powell - United States of America - British colonization of the Americas - Mexicans - 19th century

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The American historian William S. Maltby says in his book The Black Legend in England (1982): "As many other Americans, I had absorbed the anti-Hispanism from movies and folkloric literature much before this prejudice was contrasted from a different point of view in the works of competent historians, what was a big surprise for me; When I succeeded to know the work of the Hispanists, my curiosity had no limits. The Hispanists have always blamed the enemies of Spain for the tergiversation of the Historic facts and the current worldwide prejudice against Spain."

Related Topics:
William S. Maltby - Hispanists

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Some people feel that the United States mass media and government have propagated the legend to justify United States actions against Spain or Latin American countries, as in the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War or the colonization of the Philippines after the Philippine-American War. They allege that there exists clear evidence of the Black Legend in modern literature, movies, and web sites, such as in Dan Brown?s The Da Vinci Code and Steven Spielberg's Amistad. On the other side, the pirates of the Caribbean who used to attack defenseless Spanish merchant ships are turned into romantic and idealistic figures.

Related Topics:
Latin America - Mexican-American War - Spanish-American War - Philippines - Philippine-American War - Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code - Steven Spielberg - Amistad - Caribbean

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