0:00:00.000,0:00:03.526
Hey guys, I'm Faheedah, and today[br]we're going to be talking about

0:00:03.526,0:00:05.610
the African diaspora in Brazil.

0:00:06.280,0:00:09.840
♪ <i>Freedom is...</i> ♪

0:00:11.327,0:00:14.427
♪ <i>...mine</i> ♪

0:00:15.810,0:00:19.501
Did you know that Brazil has the biggest[br]African Diaspora Community

0:00:19.501,0:00:20.959
outside of Africa?

0:00:20.959,0:00:23.789
The 2010 census in Brazil

0:00:23.789,0:00:25.450
showed that for the first time,

0:00:25.450,0:00:27.640
the majority of the Brazilian population

0:00:27.640,0:00:30.126
identified as afro-descendant.

0:00:30.126,0:00:32.532
50.7% of Brazilians.

0:00:32.532,0:00:35.990
the equivalent of over[br]a hundred million people

0:00:35.990,0:00:38.754
self-identified as black or mixed-race.

0:00:38.754,0:00:42.030
The statistics I'm about to give you[br]are truly staggering.

0:00:42.030,0:00:44.490
The trans-Atlantic[br]slave trade as we know it

0:00:44.490,0:00:46.490
began when the Portuguese completed

0:00:46.490,0:00:50.640
the first trans-Atlantic[br]slave voyage to Brazil in 1526.

0:00:50.640,0:00:53.315
From 1501 to 1866,

0:00:53.315,0:00:56.586
an estimated 4.9 million enslaved Africans

0:00:56.586,0:00:58.145
were trafficked to Brazil.

0:00:58.145,0:01:00.960
That's nearly 40% of all slave traded

0:01:00.960,0:01:03.034
in the trans-Atlantic slave trade,

0:01:03.034,0:01:05.184
and at least four times[br]the number of slaves

0:01:05.184,0:01:07.193
that were trafficked to the United States.

0:01:07.193,0:01:09.903
Brazil was last country[br]in the Western Hemisphere

0:01:09.903,0:01:12.771
to abolish slavery in 1888.

0:01:12.771,0:01:14.661
Slave labour was the driving force

0:01:14.661,0:01:17.076
behind several key industries in Brazil,

0:01:17.077,0:01:20.288
including sugar production,[br]gold and diamond mining,

0:01:20.288,0:01:22.523
cofee production and agriculture.

0:01:22.523,0:01:25.346
As was the case across Latin America,

0:01:25.346,0:01:27.546
enslaved Africans in Brazil escaped

0:01:27.546,0:01:30.317
and formed maroon settlements[br]called <i>Quilombos</i>.

0:01:30.317,0:01:33.283
The most famous of which[br]was <i>Quilombo dos Palmares</i>,

0:01:33.283,0:01:36.306
which existed for most[br]of the 17th century.

0:01:36.306,0:01:38.422
It was a relatively large Quilombo,

0:01:38.422,0:01:41.289
with a population of several[br]thousand escaped slaves

0:01:41.289,0:01:42.669
and indigenous people,

0:01:42.669,0:01:45.110
who formed a complex[br]and structured society.

0:01:45.603,0:01:49.200
At its height, it had[br]a population of 30,000 people

0:01:49.200,0:01:51.400
and spanned over eleven villages,

0:01:51.400,0:01:54.450
occupying a landmass the size of Portugal.

0:01:54.450,0:01:58.539
The most famous Afro-Brazilian[br]slave resistance leader was Zumbi,

0:01:58.539,0:02:00.459
the last king of Palmares,

0:02:00.459,0:02:03.757
who led the fierce counter-attack[br]against the Portuguese forces

0:02:03.757,0:02:05.630
trying to seize the Quilombo.

0:02:05.630,0:02:08.760
Although the settlement[br]was captured in 1695

0:02:08.760,0:02:10.919
and Zumbi was decapitated,

0:02:10.919,0:02:13.259
today he is a powerful[br]symbol of resistance

0:02:13.259,0:02:16.719
against slavery in Brazil[br]and Portuguese colonial rule.

0:02:16.719,0:02:19.829
To this day,[br]the descendants of Afro-Brazilians

0:02:19.829,0:02:21.789
living in Quilombo settlements

0:02:21.789,0:02:24.460
fight for the right[br]to their ancestral land.

0:02:24.460,0:02:28.020
In 2018, for the first time,[br]a quilombo community

0:02:28.020,0:02:31.910
was given land titles,[br]when the Cachoeira Porteira community,

0:02:31.910,0:02:34.373
of 500 people, was formally granted

0:02:34.373,0:02:38.789
220,000 hectares of Amazonian rainforest.

0:02:38.789,0:02:41.310
A key turning point[br]was the Haitian Revolution,

0:02:41.310,0:02:43.388
which ended in 1804,

0:02:43.388,0:02:46.030
whereby the Afro-descendant[br]population of Haiti

0:02:46.030,0:02:50.009
rebelled against the white French elites[br]and claimed their independence,

0:02:50.009,0:02:51.658
both from French colonial rule

0:02:51.658,0:02:54.250
and their European slave masters.

0:02:54.250,0:02:56.759
This sent shockwaves across Latin America,

0:02:56.759,0:02:58.659
which were felt as far as Brazil.

0:02:59.114,0:03:03.299
Some Afro-Brazilians even wore[br]portraits of Haitian revolutionary leader

0:03:03.299,0:03:06.740
Jean Jacques Dessalines[br]in pendants around their necks.

0:03:06.740,0:03:10.470
However, after the collapse[br]of the sugar industry in Haiti,

0:03:10.470,0:03:13.810
it was Brazil that catered[br]to the increased demand for sugar.

0:03:14.273,0:03:16.886
Enslaved Africans continued to be imported

0:03:16.886,0:03:19.169
in large numbers to the region of Bahia.

0:03:19.579,0:03:21.500
From the Haitian Revolution onwards,

0:03:21.500,0:03:25.030
slave rebellions became[br]more frequent and more brutal.

0:03:25.030,0:03:28.789
The largest rebellion[br]occurred in 1835 in Salvador,

0:03:28.789,0:03:31.149
and was known as The Malê Uprising.

0:03:31.149,0:03:34.149
It was orchestrated[br]by African-born Muslim slaves

0:03:34.149,0:03:36.660
who intended to free[br]all of the slaves in Bahia.

0:03:37.089,0:03:38.907
However, the rebellion was crushed

0:03:38.907,0:03:41.740
and many participants[br]were arrested, executed,

0:03:41.740,0:03:43.480
flogged or deported.

0:03:43.480,0:03:46.354
Relations were tense[br]between enslaved Africans

0:03:46.354,0:03:48.281
who had recently been imported

0:03:48.281,0:03:50.199
and the enslaved Afro-Brazilians

0:03:50.199,0:03:53.230
who had been born[br]into slavery on Brazilian soil.

0:03:53.230,0:03:56.056
The Afro-Brazilians were comprised[br]of blacks and mulattoes

0:03:56.056,0:03:59.669
who were mixed with the European ancestry[br]of their slave masters.

0:03:59.669,0:04:03.190
They were treated better,[br]were more likely to be emancipated,

0:04:03.190,0:04:05.709
often because they were[br]the slave master´s children

0:04:05.709,0:04:08.260
and had great opportunity[br]for social mobility

0:04:08.260,0:04:09.719
once they had been freed.

0:04:09.719,0:04:12.829
In fact, it was not uncommon[br]for wealthy free blacks

0:04:12.829,0:04:15.709
and mulattoes in Brazil[br]to have slaves of their own.

0:04:15.709,0:04:17.906
It was arguably these internal divisions

0:04:17.906,0:04:20.170
that held the enslaved population back

0:04:20.170,0:04:22.529
from staging a successful revolt.

0:04:22.529,0:04:26.090
Although Brazil gained[br]its independence from Portugal in 1822,

0:04:26.650,0:04:29.860
slavery wasn't formally[br]abolished until 1888,

0:04:29.860,0:04:33.130
when Princess Isabel of Brazil[br]passed the <i>Lei Áurea</i>,

0:04:33.130,0:04:34.505
The Golden Act.

0:04:34.505,0:04:37.394
This made Brazil the last country[br]in the Western Hemisphere

0:04:37.394,0:04:38.910
to abolish slavery.

0:04:38.910,0:04:41.690
The sheer amount of slaves[br]that had been trafficked to Brazil

0:04:41.690,0:04:45.050
during the slavery era[br]meant that the Brazilian population

0:04:45.050,0:04:47.760
was now majority[br]black and afro-descendant.

0:04:48.050,0:04:51.580
At a time when[br]scientific racism was gaining popularity,

0:04:51.880,0:04:53.367
the Brazilian government sought

0:04:53.367,0:04:56.035
to whiten the racial profile [br]of the country.

0:04:56.035,0:04:58.380
It implemented a tactical whitening,

0:04:58.380,0:05:02.070
whereby from the late 1800s[br]to the early 1900s,

0:05:02.290,0:05:04.650
Brazil encouraged and even subsidized

0:05:04.650,0:05:07.730
the mass influx of white[br]European immigrants to Brazil.

0:05:08.150,0:05:10.920
The countries with the highest[br]numbers settling in Brazil

0:05:10.920,0:05:13.820
were Italians, Portuguese and Spanish.

0:05:13.974,0:05:16.690
Although this didn't eradicate[br]blackness from Brazil,

0:05:16.930,0:05:20.270
it reinforced the trope that whiteness[br]should be aspired to

0:05:20.270,0:05:22.010
and that marrying someone whiter

0:05:22.010,0:05:24.100
was an instrument of social mobility.

0:05:24.340,0:05:27.370
In the 20th century, [br]the black movement in Brazil

0:05:27.370,0:05:28.480
gained momentum.

0:05:28.760,0:05:31.325
A defining moment was in 1931,

0:05:31.325,0:05:34.000
when the Frente Negra Brasileira[br]was formed.

0:05:34.180,0:05:36.430
the first black political party in Brazil,

0:05:36.690,0:05:39.400
organized by Arlindo Vega dos Santos.

0:05:39.754,0:05:42.650
The party put forward candidates[br]for political office,

0:05:42.910,0:05:46.320
run literacy classes,[br]health clinics and legal services

0:05:46.320,0:05:48.180
for black communities across Brazil.

0:05:48.540,0:05:50.152
They also published a newspaper

0:05:50.152,0:05:53.310
called A Voz da Raça, [br]which circulated news

0:05:53.310,0:05:56.340
about black communities[br]both in Brazil and overseas.

0:05:56.710,0:06:00.190
The party was short-lived,[br]however, when in 1937

0:06:00.190,0:06:02.680
the Brazilian dictator,[br]Getúllio Vargas

0:06:02.680,0:06:04.790
dissolved all political parties.

0:06:05.030,0:06:06.780
From the 1950s onwards,

0:06:06.910,0:06:09.630
there were a number[br]of black social movements in Brazil

0:06:09.630,0:06:11.370
that lobbied for black rights.

0:06:11.560,0:06:14.630
One of the most famous[br]was the Unified Black Movement,

0:06:14.630,0:06:16.290
also known as the MNU,

0:06:16.485,0:06:18.406
founded in 1978,

0:06:18.513,0:06:22.118
which is arguably the most influential[br]black organization in Brazil

0:06:22.118,0:06:24.310
in the second half of the 20th century.

0:06:24.490,0:06:26.940
Among things, the organization spoke out

0:06:26.940,0:06:30.080
against police brutality,[br]the oppression of black women

0:06:30.080,0:06:33.590
and discrimination against[br]the LGBTQ community.

0:06:33.911,0:06:36.920
In 1995, the MNU helped organize

0:06:36.920,0:06:38.060
the march for Zumbi

0:06:38.060,0:06:39.580
in the capital of Brasilia.

0:06:39.910,0:06:43.540
The event protested racism[br]in Brazil and also celebrated

0:06:43.540,0:06:45.630
the anniversary[br]of the death of Zumbi,

0:06:45.850,0:06:47.220
the slave resistance leader

0:06:47.220,0:06:49.760
who was the last king of the[br]Quilombo dos Palmares.

0:06:50.140,0:06:52.780
With a turnout of over[br]40,000 people,

0:06:53.080,0:06:56.240
it was the largest national[br]black demonstration in Brazil.

0:06:56.510,0:06:57.600
In recent years,

0:06:57.760,0:06:59.750
social media has played a pivotal role

0:06:59.750,0:07:01.980
in black political activism in Brazil,

0:07:02.233,0:07:04.800
particularly amongst[br]afro-brazilian millennials.

0:07:04.800,0:07:06.700
Social media platforms such as

0:07:06.700,0:07:09.450
YouTube Instagram[br]and Facebook have allowed

0:07:09.450,0:07:12.460
afro-brazilians to connect[br]and mobilize online.

0:07:12.600,0:07:14.310
Social media provides a forum

0:07:14.310,0:07:16.000
to discuss the collective struggle,

0:07:16.120,0:07:18.799
but crucially, it has also allowed[br]the dissemination

0:07:18.799,0:07:20.660
of photos and video footage

0:07:20.890,0:07:23.500
showing police brutality[br]against Afro-Brazilians.

0:07:23.920,0:07:27.719
One such example is the murder[br]of Cláudia da Silva Ferreira,

0:07:27.719,0:07:30.020
who passed away in 2014,

0:07:30.240,0:07:32.680
after a police van dragged her[br]down the road

0:07:32.680,0:07:33.990
for over a thousand feet.

0:07:34.440,0:07:36.679
The grisly incident was captured on camera

0:07:36.679,0:07:38.573
and circulated on social media,

0:07:38.813,0:07:40.510
sparking national outrage.

0:07:40.987,0:07:43.351
The Black Lives Matter[br]movement, in particular,

0:07:43.351,0:07:45.690
gained traction[br]with afro-brazilian youths,

0:07:45.790,0:07:48.650
who coined the #vidasnegrasimportam.

0:07:49.059,0:07:51.620
In fact, an unprecedented number of people

0:07:51.620,0:07:53.930
self-identified as black and mixed-race

0:07:53.930,0:07:56.510
in the 2010 Brazilian census

0:07:56.950,0:07:59.510
shows that Brazilians[br]are prouder and more willing

0:07:59.510,0:08:02.050
to claim their African heritage[br]than ever before.

0:08:02.440,0:08:04.640
However, the census also brought to light

0:08:04.640,0:08:06.370
the grave disparities between

0:08:06.370,0:08:08.419
the distribution of wealth[br]amongst white

0:08:08.419,0:08:10.240
and afro-descendant Brazilians.

0:08:10.641,0:08:12.130
The socio-economic gap

0:08:12.130,0:08:14.660
between white[br]and black Brazilians persists.

0:08:15.030,0:08:18.260
The 2010 census found[br]that, in major cities,

0:08:18.480,0:08:21.139
white Brazilians earn[br]2 to 3 times more than

0:08:21.139,0:08:22.569
their black counterparts.

0:08:22.889,0:08:26.760
The wealthiest strata[br]of Brazilian society remains 82%

0:08:26.760,0:08:30.549
white and the poorest rata is 76% black.

0:08:30.989,0:08:34.599
Afro-Brazilians have far less[br]access to quality education,

0:08:34.898,0:08:36.670
health care or fair wages,

0:08:36.780,0:08:39.019
and they are underrepresented[br]in the government.

0:08:39.226,0:08:42.190
The most prominent[br]African derive religions in Brazil

0:08:42.190,0:08:44.198
are candomblé and umbanda.

0:08:44.258,0:08:46.890
Umbanda centers on the belief in spirits,

0:08:46.890,0:08:48.300
both good and evil.

0:08:48.350,0:08:50.880
Candomblé is derived from[br]the belief systems

0:08:50.880,0:08:52.870
of a number of African ethnic groups,

0:08:53.060,0:08:55.550
particularly, the Yorubá-Fun and Bantu,

0:08:55.860,0:08:57.660
similar to the Orishas of Santeria

0:08:57.660,0:08:59.820
practiced in Cuba and other regions.

0:09:00.040,0:09:02.660
The deities of candomblé[br]are called "Arishas".

0:09:03.100,0:09:06.430
Over time, they have become[br]syncretized with Roman Catholic saints.

0:09:06.758,0:09:08.949
This dates back to when enslaved Africans

0:09:08.949,0:09:11.006
were forbidden[br]by the European masters

0:09:11.006,0:09:13.000
for practicing their African religions.

0:09:13.220,0:09:15.140
And they had to do so in secret,

0:09:15.140,0:09:17.428
under the guise of praying[br]to Catholic saints,

0:09:17.888,0:09:19.420
because of the historical ties

0:09:19.420,0:09:21.570
between candomblé and catholicism.

0:09:21.570,0:09:24.029
Catholicism is also widely practiced

0:09:24.029,0:09:25.540
amongst afro-brazilians.

0:09:25.680,0:09:28.720
One afro-descendants Saint[br]venerated in Brazil

0:09:28.720,0:09:30.450
is Escrava Anastásia,

0:09:30.650,0:09:33.150
a slave woman of African[br]descent who is depicted

0:09:33.150,0:09:34.670
wearing a metal facemask.

0:09:34.750,0:09:37.470
The story goes that her[br]master's wife accused her

0:09:37.470,0:09:39.000
of flirting with her husband,

0:09:39.300,0:09:41.970
and as a punishment forced[br]her to wear an iron mask

0:09:41.970,0:09:43.890
over her face for[br]the rest of her life,

0:09:44.100,0:09:45.900
until she died from tetanus from

0:09:45.900,0:09:46.990
the rusty metal.

0:09:47.190,0:09:49.380
The biggest afro-brazilian festival

0:09:49.380,0:09:51.090
is the Festival of Iemanjá,

0:09:51.490,0:09:54.525
celebrated every February 2nd[br]in Rio Vermelho.

0:09:54.835,0:09:57.820
The festival brings toghether[br]members of several religions,

0:09:58.090,0:10:00.037
including Catholics and practitioners

0:10:00.037,0:10:03.210
of the afro-brazilian religions,[br]candomblé and umbanda.

0:10:03.615,0:10:05.770
Iemanjá is the Arisha of the sea

0:10:05.910,0:10:08.900
and loosely corresponds[br]to the Cuban Arisha, Iamanha.

0:10:09.140,0:10:11.010
It is custom to lay offerings for

0:10:11.010,0:10:13.640
the goddess, of flowers jewelry and food.

0:10:14.270,0:10:17.991
And of course, Brasil is famous[br]for its Carnaval around the world.

0:10:18.242,0:10:20.350
There are celebrations across the country,

0:10:20.350,0:10:22.980
but the most famous[br]is hosted in Rio de Janeiro,

0:10:23.410,0:10:25.800
where over 5 million people participate in

0:10:25.800,0:10:26.950
the street parties.

0:10:27.240,0:10:30.840
One key element of the Carnaval[br]is the Samba music and dance,

0:10:31.040,0:10:34.400
a clear vestige of African[br]influence in Brazilian culture.

0:10:34.770,0:10:37.500
The fast footwork[br]of Samba dancing originated in

0:10:37.500,0:10:39.980
the dancers practiced[br]by the enslaved Africans

0:10:39.980,0:10:41.270
trafficked to Brazil.

0:10:41.584,0:10:45.071
And the singing style derives from[br]the traditional call-and-response style

0:10:45.071,0:10:46.857
the Africans would use to evoke their

0:10:46.857,0:10:48.830
Arishas during religious ceremonies.

0:10:49.380,0:10:51.600
Another afro-brazilian style of dance is

0:10:51.600,0:10:54.060
capoeira, which combines martial arts

0:10:54.060,0:10:55.740
moves with elements of dance and

0:10:55.740,0:10:57.930
acrobatics to create graceful and

0:10:57.930,0:10:59.049
flowing sequences.

0:10:59.457,0:11:01.626
It's originated amongst enslaved Africans

0:11:01.626,0:11:03.600
in Brazil who sought to hone their combat

0:11:03.600,0:11:05.520
skills without arousing the suspicions

0:11:05.520,0:11:06.620
of their masters.

0:11:06.880,0:11:10.540
In 2014, it was declared[br]an expression of intangible cultural

0:11:10.540,0:11:12.030
heritage by UNESCO.

0:11:12.200,0:11:15.100
The Afro-Brazilian Museum,[br]located in São Paulo,

0:11:15.374,0:11:17.550
is home to over 6,000 works

0:11:17.550,0:11:19.620
pertaining to a afro-brazilian history,

0:11:19.620,0:11:21.050
culture and heritage.

0:11:21.427,0:11:24.050
It seeks to celebrate[br]the arts and accomplishments

0:11:24.050,0:11:25.950
of Africans and Afro-Brazilians,

0:11:26.200,0:11:29.360
and it´s the largest collection[br]of artifacts of Afrcian descent

0:11:29.360,0:11:30.400
in Latin America.

0:11:30.920,0:11:33.060
Black Awareness Day has been celebrated

0:11:33.060,0:11:35.750
annually in Brazil since the year 1960.

0:11:35.930,0:11:38.540
It's held on November 20th[br]to honor the live

0:11:38.540,0:11:41.820
of afro-brazilian slave[br]resistance fighter, Zumbi.

0:11:42.090,0:11:44.780
Famous afro-brazilians[br]include the footballers

0:11:44.800,0:11:46.240
Pelé and Ronaldinho,

0:11:46.605,0:11:49.510
the scholar and politician,[br]Abdias do Nascimento,

0:11:49.810,0:11:51.340
actress Suzanna Mota,

0:11:51.480,0:11:53.930
and the politician Benedita de Silva,

0:11:54.070,0:11:56.860
who became the first black woman[br]in the Brazilian Senate.

0:11:56.860,0:11:57.880
That brings me to the

0:11:57.880,0:12:00.750
end of our video[br]on the African Diaspora in Brazil.

0:12:01.120,0:12:03.460
For more videos,[br]don't forget to subscribe

0:12:03.460,0:12:06.250
and follow me on instagram,[br]at freedom is mine official.

0:12:06.290,0:12:08.240
I'll see you in the next video.

0:12:08.950,0:12:12.950
[Music]