Brazil
Brazil is a vast country with relief and landscape that varies from the wet and humid rainforest in the north to the dry-lands (caatinga ) in the northeast. With a population of over 156 million souls, it is the sixth most populous country in the world. Blacks are said to comprise only 6% of the country’s population; but if one employs the racial classificatory system prevalent in the US one arrives at a much higher percentage (i.e. perhaps nearly 50% of the population). Of special interest to the BLAC FOUNDATION here are: a) the Afro-Brazilian mock-combat dance known as Capoeira; b) the Afro-Brazilian religions known as Xangó, Candomblé and Macumba; and c) the quilombo communities (the most famous of which was Palmares) founded by enslaved Africans who fled into the interior seeking freedom from oppression. For more information about Brazil; see Dr. E. L. Powe’s Capoeira & Congo .
Afro-Brazilians & their Struggle for Equality © 2010 Clarence Lusane
