Introduction: The heritage of slavery for Afro-descendants

In discussing recent affirmative action policies with underlying racial elements in Brazil it is necessary for us to take a retrospective view that contextualises the trajectory of black men and women: the conquest, the struggles and the protagonism of the Negro descendant movements are inherent in the discussions and actions addressing the denouncement of racism and the formulation of inclusive politics.

The past and present of the Afro-Brazilian population and their descendants remain deeply related and need to be evaluated to enable future thinking. The Afro-descendants of the entire Americas went through a specific historic experience, namely, slavery; they were and continue to be marked by this fate. This historic past in conjunction with current racial prejudice still represents a severe obstacle for Afrodescendants. The official historiography in Brazil has long transmitted the deprecating idea of the passive and submissive Negro, who accepted enslavement without any reaction, because the institution of slavery had already been familiar in the African homeland.

This image of passivity and submission was contradicted by the sphere of permanent tensions that marked Brazil during almost four centuries of slavery: the conflicts that involved the black brotherhoods (slaves and freedmen), who venerated black saints such as Saint Elesban, Saint Iphigenia, Saint Benedict and, the most popular among them, Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men.

Among slaves, there were also frequent suicides, murders of masters, uprisings and escapes; maroon communities (quilombos) were also formed that constituted eloquent manifestations of active resistance and can be interpreted as a strategies of disruption as they were not simple hideaways, but attempts of liberation and the construction of a new model of society inspired by African communities.

As the historian Joel Rufino dos Santos writes: ‘It is about making the Brazilian Negroes visible by this recovered past […] Although this may seem a task of less importance, it is a first and indispensable step to promote them to the condition of Brazilian citizens.’

The transition from slave labour to free labour

The second half of the 19th century was marked by a period of profound changes in the Brazilian economy.