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Afro-Bahian History and Culture Reading Resource List

Resources in English

Journal Articles

Books

  • African-Brazilian Culture and Regional Identity in Bahia, Brazil, by Scott Ickes
  • Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia, by João José Reis
  • Axé Bahia: The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, by Patrick A. Polk, Roberto Conduru, Sabrina Gledhill, Randal Johnson
  • Brazil’s New Racial Politics, edited by Bernd Reiter and Gladys L. Mitchell
  • Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art, by Matthias Röhrig Assunção
  • Brazilian Popular Music and Globalisation, by Charles A. Perrone & Christopher Dunn
  • Brazil, Mixture or Massacre?: Essays of a Genocide of a Black People, by Abdias do Nascimento
  • Afro-Politics and Civil Society in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, by Kwame Dixon
  • The Masters and the Slaves: A study in the development of Brazilian civilization, by Gilberto Freyre

Fiction Novels

  • Cacao, by Jorge Amado
  • The War of the Saints, by Jorge Amado
  • Tent of Miracles, by Jorge Amado

Blogs

Website articles

Films

Radio Podcasts 

Recursos em Português

Artigos de Jornal

Livros

  • Genocídio do negro brasileiro: Processo de um Racismo Mascarado, por Abdias do Nascimento
  • A Trama dos Tambores: a musica afro-pop de Salvador, por Goli Guerreiro
  • Casa Grande & Senzala, por Gilberto Freyre

Romances de Ficção

  • Cacau, por Jorge Amado
  • O Sumiço da Santa, por Jorge Amado
  • Tenda dos Milagres, por Jorge Amado

Blogues

Artigos do site

Filmes

Music / Música

Afro-Bloco / Bloco-Afro Videos

Names to Know of Afro-Bahian Samba-Reggae Movement / 

Nomes para Saber do Movimento Samba-Reggae Afro-Baiano 

 

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Dia da Consciência Negra (Black Consciousness Day)

November 20 is known as Dia da Consciência Negra (Day of Black Consciousness or Black Awareness Day) in Brazil. On this day, Brazilians recognize the efforts towards equality of the Movimento Negro (Black Movement) and celebrate black resistance and liberation by honoring Zumbi dos Palmares, a national hero.

Zumbi dos Palmares was a warrior and leader of anti-slavery resistance. Zumbi was born in 1655 in one of the quilombo settlements of Palmares in Pernambuco, Brazil. He was captured as a boy by soldiers and given to Father Antonio Melo who baptized him with the name ‘Francisco”. At the age of fifteen, Zumbi escaped and returned to the Palmares where he became one of the community’s most famous leaders and their last.

Also called Angola Janga (Angola Small) by those that lived there, Palmares was established as a shelter not only blacks, but also of poor whites, Indians and mestizos extorted by the colonizer. Palmares was like the Promised Land, and Zumbi, was regarded as eternal and immortal, and was recognized as a loyal and brave protector.

Zumbi was an extraordinary and talented military leader along with his wife, Dandara, who was also a fighter and defender of anti-slavery liberation in her own right, and leader of the female arm of the Palmares army, while helping to take care of sick children, the elderly, those injured by slavemasters. In 1694, a Portuguese army of 9,000 men began an undertaking that would lead to defeat Macaco, the main town of Palmares. Zumbi was found killed on November 20, 1695.

For years, Palmares was defended by Zumbi and Dandara against the military expeditions which intended to bring runaway slaves back into slavery. The Day of Black Consciousness is celebrated on November 20 in Brazil and is dedicated to reflection on the inclusion of blacks in Brazilian society. The date was chosen to coincide with the day of the death of Zumbi dos Palmares, in 1695.

Paintings depicting Zumbi and wife Dandara of Palmares

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November – The Month of Black Consciousness

In November, Bahians will embark upon a month of recognition of Black history and cultural awareness. Much like Black History Month is celebrated in the month of February in the U.S., November is considered Black Consciousness Month in the state of Bahia in Brazil. November 20 is also known as Dia da Consciência Negra (Black Consciousness Day) and is celebrated as a holiday in many cities across Brazil as a reflection on the legacy of resistance to slavery and the fight for social and political justice. Activities are planned all throughout the month in order to bring awareness of Black history and the contributions of Afro-Brazilians to society as well as pride in African ancestry, identity, and heritage. Advocates of the Black Movement hope this month-long recognition will also raise awareness of the continuing struggle for Afro-Brazilians as they fight for equality in the workplace, media, education, and justice system.

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NELSON MACA: Poet, Activist, and Academic

Born in the city of Parana Telemaco Borba, 249 kilometers from Curitiba, Nelson Maca, 47, has expressed the ideas of the black movement for 13 years. At 22, he moved to Salvador in search of a black Bahia and to study at Universidade Federal da Bahia (Ufba). Today, a literature professor at Universidade Católica do Salvador (UCSAL), his work is influenced by artists ranging from rappers such as Mano Brown and Thaíde, to writers like Lima Barreto and Richard Wright. His philosophy draws on the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and the post-colonialism of Frantz Fanon. But it’s not in the academics where he is known, but in social activism.
 “I’m not a teacher who came to head the university. I am a teacher of the university as much as I am of the street.“
A member of the poesía preta (black poetry) movement and political art group Coletivo Blackitude, created 14 years ago, he shakes the black consciousness of Salvador every Wednesday at Sarau Bem Black, at Sankofa African Bar in Pelourinho. Over the past four years, the sarau has received literary names such as Cuti, alias Luiz Silva, and Conceição Evaristo, and music, such as Ellen Oléria and rappers GOG  and MC Marshal. Maca talks a lot about racism, literature, and social activism.
Source: http://atarde.uol.com.br/muito/noticias/1523077-nelson-maca-sou-um-poeta-da-literatura-negra