Capoeira through the ages

Capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art practiced all over the world, was originally a criminal activity. Even after the abolition of slavery, in 1888, the police would repress any manifestation of Black culture. Lots of the …

BBC documentary about Brazilian slavery

Brazil received ten times more slaves than the US. This is their story, told in 2000 by the BBC. It displays all sorts of original documents, plus interviews with historians João José Reis, Cya Teixeira, …

Blacks that built Brazil

Check this beautiful gallery of black characters that built Brazilian history and culture. Bonus: Milton Nascimento’s voice.

If you liked this post, try also BBC documentary about Brazilian slavery and Darker middle class and Who’s black?
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Slavery, according to Elza Soares

To remember the slavery days and celebrate the (official) abolition anniversary, a great but disturbing Elza Soares video clip, where she sings that “the cheapest meat in the market is the black flesh”.

 
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Presidents in stamps

Any philatelist can tell you that there is much more to stamps than meets the eye.
This week Correios (the state-owned company responsible for the Brazilian postal service) released a stamp depicting former president Luiz Inácio …

Who’s black?

Machado de Assis, the greatest Brazilian novelist of all times, was born black and poor, in one of the hills of Rio de Janeiro, the grandchild of freed slaves. His mother was born in the …