But transculturation pervaded Latin American life, from food to secular music to fashion. Somewhat related, Latin America had a great deal of racial diversity and a rigid social hierarchy to match. There were four basic racial categories, white, black, mestizo, a mix of white and American Indian, and mulatto, a mix of white and black. We try not to use that word anymore because it's offensive, but that's the word they used. And from the 16th century on, Latin America had a huge diversity of mixed race people and there were constant attempts to classify them and divide them into castes. You can see some of these in so-called casta paintings, which attempted to establish in a very weird and enlightenment-y way all the possible racial combinations. But of course, that's not how race works, as evidenced by the fact that successful people of lower racial castes could become legally white by being granted gracias al sacar.