AFRO BRAZIL: The African Diaspora In BRAZIL

Join us for a dose of Brazilian black history! Did you know Brazil has the largest African diaspora population in the world outside of Africa? That's right! This stems from the Transatlantic Slave Trade whereby an estimated 4.9 million enslaved Africans were trafficked to Brazil... that’s nearly 40% of all slaves traded in the Transatlantic Slave Trade! That’s several times the number of enslaved Africans that were trafficked to the United States. Learn about slave resistance movements, Capoeira, Candomble and Samba in this chunky chapter of black history from Brazil!

Music: Brazil by El Chacon

Illustration by: Jimena Isabel Merchán. Find her on Instagram at: @jimenaimm

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Hey guys, I'm Faheedah, and today
we're going to be talking about

the African diaspora in Brazil.

♪ Freedom is... ♪

♪ ...mine ♪

Did you know that Brazil has the biggest
African Diaspora Community

outside of Africa?

The 2010 census in Brazil

showed that for the first time,

the majority of the Brazilian population

identified as afro-descendant.

50.7% of Brazilians.

the equivalent of over
a hundred million people

self-identified as black or mixed-race.

The statistics I'm about to give you
are truly staggering.

The trans-Atlantic
slave trade as we know it

began when the Portuguese completed

the first trans-Atlantic
slave voyage to Brazil in 1526.

From 1501 to 1866,

an estimated 4.9 million enslaved Africans

were trafficked to Brazil.

That's nearly 40% of all slave traded

in the trans-Atlantic slave trade,

and at least four times
the number of slaves

that were trafficked to the United States.

Brazil was last country
in the Western Hemisphere

to abolish slavery in 1888.

Slave labour was the driving force

behind several key industries in Brazil,

including sugar production,
gold and diamond mining,

cofee production and agriculture.

As was the case across Latin America,

enslaved Africans in Brazil escaped

and formed maroon settlements
called Quilombos.

The most famous of which
was Quilombo dos Palmares,

which existed for most
of the 17th century.

It was a relatively large Quilombo,

with a population of several
thousand escaped slaves

and indigenous people,

who formed a complex
and structured society.

At its height, it had
a population of 30,000 people

and spanned over eleven villages,

occupying a landmass the size of Portugal.

The most famous Afro-Brazilian
slave resistance leader was Zumbi,

the last king of Palmares,

who led the fierce counter-attack
against the Portuguese forces

trying to seize the Quilombo.

Although the settlement
was captured in 1695

and Zumbi was decapitated,

today he is a powerful
symbol of resistance

against slavery in Brazil
and Portuguese colonial rule.

To this day,
the descendants of Afro-Brazilians

living in Quilombo settlements

fight for the right
to their ancestral land.

In 2018, for the first time,
a quilombo community

was given land titles,
when the Cachoeira Porteira community,

of 500 people, was formally granted

220,000 hectares of Amazonian rainforest.

A key turning point
was the Haitian Revolution,

which ended in 1804,

whereby the Afro-descendant
population of Haiti

rebelled against the white French elites
and claimed their independence,

both from French colonial rule

and their European slave masters.

This sent shockwaves across Latin America,

which were felt as far as Brazil.

Some Afro-Brazilians even wore
portraits of Haitian revolutionary leader

Jean Jacques Dessalines
in pendants around their necks.

However, after the collapse
of the sugar industry in Haiti,

it was Brazil that catered
to the increased demand for sugar.

Enslaved Africans continued to be imported

in large numbers to the region of Bahia.

From the Haitian Revolution onwards,

slave rebellions became
more frequent and more brutal.

The largest rebellion
occurred in 1835 in Salvador,

and was known as The Malê Uprising.

It was orchestrated
by African-born Muslim slaves

who intended to free
all of the slaves in Bahia.

However, the rebellion was crushed

and many participants
were arrested, executed,

flogged or deported.

Relations were tense
between enslaved Africans

who had recently been imported

and the enslaved Afro-Brazilians

who had been born
into slavery on Brazilian soil.

The Afro-Brazilians were comprised
of blacks and mulattoes

who were mixed with the European ancestry
of their slave masters.

They were treated better,
were more likely to be emancipated,

often because they were
the slave master´s children

and had great opportunity
for social mobility

once they had been freed.

In fact, it was not uncommon
for wealthy free blacks

and mulattoes in Brazil
to have slaves of their own.

It was arguably these internal divisions

that held the enslaved population back

from staging a successful revolt.

Although Brazil gained
its independence from Portugal in 1822,

slavery wasn't formally
abolished until 1888,

when Princess Isabel of Brazil
passed the Lei Áurea,

The Golden Act.

This made Brazil the last country
in the Western Hemisphere

to abolish slavery.

The sheer amount of slaves
that had been trafficked to Brazil

during the slavery era
meant that the Brazilian population

was now majority
black and afro-descendant.

At a time when
scientific racism was gaining popularity,

the Brazilian government sought

to whiten the racial profile
of the country.

It implemented a tactical whitening,

whereby from the late 1800s
to the early 1900s,

Brazil encouraged and even subsidized

the mass influx of white
European immigrants to Brazil.

The countries with the highest
numbers settling in Brazil

were Italians, Portuguese and Spanish.

Although this didn't eradicate
blackness from Brazil,

it reinforced the trope that whiteness
should be aspired to

and that marrying someone whiter

was an instrument of social mobility.

In the 20th century,
the black movement in Brazil

gained momentum.

A defining moment was in 1931,

when the Frente Negra Brasileira
was formed.

the first black political party in Brazil,

organized by Arlindo Vega dos Santos.

The party put forward candidates
for political office,

run literacy classes,
health clinics and legal services

for black communities across Brazil.

They also published a newspaper

called A Voz da Raça,
which circulated news

about black communities
both in Brazil and overseas.

The party was short-lived,
however, when in 1937

the Brazilian dictator,
Getúlio Vargas

dissolved all political parties.

From the 1950s onwards,

there were a number
of black social movements in Brazil

that lobbied for black rights.

One of the most famous
was the Unified Black Movement,

also known as the MNU,

founded in 1978,

which is arguably the most influential
black organization in Brazil

in the second half of the 20th century.

Among things, the organization spoke out

against police brutality,
the oppression of black women

and discrimination against
the LGBTQ community.

In 1995, the MNU helped organize

the march for Zumbi

in the capital of Brasilia.

The event protested racism
in Brazil and also celebrated

the anniversary
of the death of Zumbi,

the slave resistance leader

who was the last king
of the Quilombo dos Palmares.

With a turnout of over
40,000 people,

it was the largest national
black demonstration in Brazil.

In recent years,

social media has played a pivotal role

in Black political activism in Brazil,

particularly amongst
Afro-Brazilian millennials.

Social media platforms
such as YouTube, Instagram

and Facebook have allowed

Afro-Brazilians to connect
and mobilize online.

Social media provides a forum

to discuss the collective struggle,

but crucially, it has also allowed
the dissemination

of photos and video footage

showing police brutality
against Afro-Brazilians.

One such example is the murder
of Cláudia da Silva Ferreira,

who passed away in 2014,

after a police van dragged her
down the road

for over a thousand feet.

The grisly incident was captured on camera

and circulated on social media,

sparking national outrage.

The Black Lives Matter
movement, in particular,

gained traction
with Afro-Brazilian youths,

who coined the #vidasnegrasimportam.

In fact, an unprecedented number of people

self-identified as black and mixed-race

in the 2010 Brazilian census,

shows that Brazilians
are prouder and more willing

to claim their African heritage
than ever before.

However, the census also brought to light

the grave disparities
between the distribution of wealth

amongst white
and Afro-descendant Brazilians.

The socio-economic gap

between white
and black Brazilians persists.

The 2010 census found
that, in major cities,

white Brazilians earn 2 to 3 times more

than their black counterparts.

The wealthiest strata
of Brazilian society remains 82% white

and the poorest strata is 76% black.

Afro-Brazilians have far less
access to quality education,

health care or fair wages,

and they are underrepresented
in the government.

The most prominent
African derive religions in Brazil

are Candomblé and Umbanda.

Umbanda centers on the belief in spirits,

both good and evil.

Candomblé is derived
from the belief systems

of a number of African ethnic groups,

particularly, the Yorubá, Fun and Bantu,

similar to the Orishas of Santeria

practiced in Cuba and other regions.

The deities of candomblé
are called the "Orixás".

Over time, they have become
syncretized with Roman Catholic saints.

This dates back to when enslaved Africans

were forbidden
by their European masters

for practicing their African religions.

And so, had to do so in secret,

under the guise of praying
to Catholic saints.

Because of the historical ties

between Candomblé and Catholicism,

Catholicism is also widely practiced

amongst Afro-Brazilians.

One afro-descendants Saint
venerated in Brazil

is Escrava Anastásia,

a slave woman of African
descent who is depicted

wearing a metal facemask.

The story goes that her
master's wife accused her

of flirting with her husband,

and as a punishment forced
her to wear an iron mask

over her face for the rest of her life,

until she died from tetanus

from the rusty metal.

The biggest Afro-Brazilian festival

is the Festival of Iemanjá,

celebrated every February 2nd
in Rio Vermelho.

The festival brings together
members of several religions,

including Catholics and practitioners

of the Afro-Brazilian religions,
Candomblé and Umbanda.

Iemanjá is the Orixá of the sea

and loosely corresponds
to the Cuban Orisha, Yemọja.

It is custom to lay offerings

for the goddess,
of flowers jewelry and food.

And of course, Brazil is famous
for its Carnaval around Mardi Gras.

There are celebrations across the country,

but the most famous
is hosted in Rio de Janeiro,

where over 5 million people
participate in the street parties.

One key element of the Carnaval
is the Samba music and dance,

a clear vestige of African
influence in Brazilian culture.

The fast footwork of Samba dancing
originated in the dances

practiced by the enslaved Africans
who were trafficked to Brazil.

And the singing style is derived

from the traditional
call-and-response style

the Africans would use
to evoke their Orishas

during religious ceremonies.

Another Afro-Brazilian
style of dance is capoeira,

which combines martial arts moves
with elements of dance and acrobatics

to create graceful and flowing sequences.

It originated amongst
enslaved Africans in Brazil

who sought to hone
their combat skills

without arousing
the suspicions of their masters.

In 2014, it was declared

an expression of intangible
cultural heritage by UNESCO.

The Afro-Brazilian Museum,
located in São Paulo,

is home to over 6,000 works

pertaining to a Afro-Brazilian history,

culture and heritage.

It seeks to celebrate
the arts and accomplishments

of Africans and Afro-Brazilians,

and it´s the largest collection
of artifacts of African descent

in Latin America.

Black Awareness Day has been celebrated

annually in Brazil since the year 1960.

It's held on November 20th
to honor the life

of Afro-Brazilian slave
resistance fighter, Zumbi.

Famous Afro-Brazilians
include the footballers

Pelé and Ronaldinho,

the scholar and politician,
Abdias do Nascimento,

actress Suzanna Mota,

and the politician Benedita da Silva,

who became the first black woman
in the Brazilian Senate.

That brings me to the end of our video

on the African Diaspora in Brazil.

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@freedomismineofficial.

I'll see you in the next video.

♪ Freedom is... ♪

♪ ...mine ♪