African Diaspora in Brazil
What is African Diaspora?
African Diaspora is how Africans, and their culture, traveled all over the world and is still seen everywhere today.
What was slavery like in Brazil?
Brazil, along with many different countries, experienced the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and The African Diaspora, which still exists today. Along with those two also resulted in resistance to slavery. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was one of the biggest deportations, or kidnapping, in history. Many Africans were taken on ships to many different countries. It started off as only 5,000 slaves a year in the 16th century but grew to become over 100,000 slaves a year by the 18th century (Bortolot). Slavery in Brazil was dehumanizing. According to Robert, Conrad, he states that he was forced into “a state of nudity” on the boat along with everyone else on the boat, they were also like they were objects (27-28). People were also whipped and treated like animals.
How did the slaves resist?
With slavery, also came resistance. Slaves resisted in many ways. Some slaves ran away and created their own communities where they were free (Abreu). Slaves would also refuse to do what they were told resulting in them getting whipped or abused. Slaves also organized riots against their owners or in their towns (Vallejos).
Where do you see African Culture in Brazil?
Brazil was the last country in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery in 1888. (Nzibo). However, the time period of slavery was so long it became multi-generational. This left freed slaves with no choice but to stay in Brazil. African cultures are still found in Brazil today because of slavery in the past. Currently, Afro-Brazilians are now the majority of Brazil, 50.7% of the population (Janeiro). Samba and carnival are also one of the many great parts of African culture we still see in Brazil and in other countries. However, in Brazil, the African-Brazilian population is the poorest and frowned upon, they don’t want them to be featured in simple things such as magazines. This connects back to slavery because they are still facing inequalities and disadvantages today.
Works Cited
Abreu, Johnathan Alexander. Frontiers Beyond Abolition: Fugitive Slave Communities and Resistance in Maranhão and Pará, Brazil, 1860-1950. 2018. 27 4 2019. <https://escholarship.org/uc/item/43d0d126>.
Bortolot, Alexander Ives. The Transatlantic Slave Trade. n.d. 27 4 2019. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/slav/hd_slav.htm>.
https://library.brown.edu/create/fivecenturiesofchange/chapters/chapter-2/african-slavery/. n.d.
Janeiro, Tom Phillips in Rio de. Brazil census shows African-Brazilians and Mestizos in the majority for the first time. n.d. 28 4 2019. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/17/brazil-census-african-brazilians-majority>.
Nzibo, Yusuf A. The decline and Abolition of Slavery in Brazil. 2017. 28 4 2019. <https://morebooks.de/store/gb/book/the-decline-and-abolition-of-slavery-in-brazil/isbn/978-620-2-01595-0>.
Vallejos, Julio Pinto. "Slave Control and Slave Resistance in Colonial Minas Gerais, 1700–1750." Journal of Latin American Studies 17.01 (1985): 1-34. 28 4 2019. <https://cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-latin-american-studies/article/slave-control-and-slave-resistance-in-colonial-minas-gerais-17001750/15dd4eb72d9558b8af68c3b652bbae0a>.