Black men and women contributed to the construction of Brazil.
They are warriors, liberal professionals, artists, athletes and political activists who have made a difference in the country.
we choose 25 black Brazilian personalities that marked the history of the country.
1. Aqualtune (c.1600-?) - princess and military commander
Born in the Kingdom of Congo, Aqualtune was a princess who played an important role in her homeland. He commanded an army of 10,000 men against the Kingdom of Portugal defending its territory.
Defeated, she was sold into slavery and brought to Alagoas. At the plantation where she was a slave, she found out about the existence of Quilombo dos Palmares and fled to the place taking several companions with her.
There he would have three children who would stand out in the fight against slavery: Denim Zumba and Ghana, leaders in Quilombo dos Palmares; and Sabina, the mother of Zombie.
His cause of death is uncertain, but his deeds helped to consolidate Quilombo dos Palmares as a refuge for slaves in the colony.
2. Zumbi dos Palmares (1655-1695) - leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares
Zumbi dos Palmares was the symbol of the resistance of the slaves who managed to flee the farms of Alagoas and surroundings.
Zumbi was born in Quilombo and, therefore, free. However, in one of the incursions against the quilombo he was sold to a priest and thus studied Latin and Portuguese.
In this way, he knew of the appalling living conditions that the Africans who were brought by force to work on the northeastern plantations were subjected.
He returns to Quilombo and who led him was Ganga Zumba. At that time, the place already had a population of 30,000 people and represented a threat to the Portuguese government. Therefore, they decide to make an offer for them to surrender without violence.
The proposal is rejected by Zumbi who would have ambushed Ganga Zumba or poisoned him. Thus begins a war between the quilombolas, settlers and the Portuguese Crown.
Leading the Quilombo dos Palmares, his army was defeated, and Zumbi was captured and killed. His head was exposed in a public square, but his example of struggle was passed down from generation to generation. Zumbi's life became an example for the current black movement.
3. Dandara (?-1694) - Zumbi's wife
Data on Dandara's life are scarce and it is not certain whether she was born in Brazil or Africa. It is known that she was Zumbi's wife and with him they had three children.
In addition, he participated in the resistance against the Portuguese government, fighting alongside the troops defending Quilombo dos Palmares. Likewise, he opposed leader Ganga Zumba when he wanted to make a pact with the Portuguese government.
Having defeated the Quilombo dos Palmares army, so as not to be caught by the colonial soldiers, Dandara preferred to commit suicide, throwing himself over a precipice.
4. Aleijadinho (1738(?)-1814) - sculptor and architect
Son of a Portuguese architect and his slave, Antônio Francisco de Lisboa, Aleijadinho, was freed by his father. He grew up in an art environment and was able to receive formal education with his half brothers.
Being a brown or mulatto, he did not always receive what he was entitled to for his works and many pieces cannot have their authorship confirmed because they lack a contract.
Even so, he was in charge of performing several important plays for the richest religious orders in the Minas Gerais region. His works are in cities like Congonhas, Mariana and Sabará and in several Brazilian museums.
She developed a degenerative disease that caused him to lose (or paralyze) his fingers and toes. Even seriously ill, he did not stop working and gave his creations an unmistakable style, being recognized as the great baroque master of the period.
5. Tereza de Benguela (?-1770) - Queen of the Quilombo of Quariterê
She was the queen of the Quilombo de Quariterê, in Mato Grosso. After her companion's death, she led the fight of the quilombo against Portuguese soldiers. Its great innovation was the institution of a parliament in the quilombo where the rules that regulated the functioning of the place were discussed.
After having her army defeated, Tereza de Benguela was killed and decapitated with her head exposed in a public square. In this way, the government intended the punishment to serve as an example so that no one would challenge it again.
On the 25th of July, her death date, Black Women's Day is celebrated in Brazil.
6. Mestre Valentim (1745-1813) - landscaper and architect
Valentim da Fonseca e Silva, better known as Mestre Valentim, was the son of a diamond contractor and a black woman. He was born in Serro, Minas Gerais, and later Valentim was taken to Lisbon by his father, where he studied.
In Brazil, he settled in Rio de Janeiro, then capital of the colony. He served for the great religious orders and carried out works for the Monastery of São Bento, the Church of Santa Cruz dos Militares and the Church of São Pedro Clérigos (already demolished).
Called "Aleijadinho carioca" for his talent, he was also the author of the original layout of Passeio Público and Chafariz das Marrecas, both in Rio de Janeiro.
However, his best known work is a fountain located in what is now Praça Quinze, where hundreds of slaves collected water to supply their homes.
7. Father José Maurício (1767-1830) - musician and composer
Born in Rio de Janeiro to freed parents, José Maurício Nunes Garcia followed an ecclesiastical career in order to have a formal education. In addition, he studied music, composition and conducting, being an excellent organist.
With the arrival of the Royal Family to Brazil, in 1808, the cultural life of Rio de Janeiro underwent a considerable increase.
the prince regent Dom João, a great admirer of music, named him Mestre de Capela and made him a knight of the Order of Christ, one of the most traditional Portuguese orders.
She composed, above all, religious music that reflects exactly the transition from Baroque to Classicism that European music was passing through.
With the celebrations of the Royal Family's bicentennial in 2008, the work of José Maurício Nunes Garcia was rediscovered. Thus emerged several recordings by Brazilian and international orchestras that allowed their dissemination to new generations.
8. Maria Firmina do Reis (1822-1917) - writer and teacher
Born in Maranhão, Maria Firmina dos Reis can be considered a pioneer in several fields.
She was the first woman to pass the public examination as a teacher, found a mixed school and write a novel "Ursula". This book would anticipate the genre of abolitionist literature that would be fashionable with "Slave Isaura", by Bernado Guimarães (1825-1884).
In 1871 she would publish a short story with the same theme "The Slave" and would gather her poems in the collection "Corners by the sea".
Maria Firmina was completely forgotten and silenced from the history of Brazil, but recent researches have shed light on her work and life.
9. Luís Gama (1830-1882) - writer and political activist
Born in Bahia to a freedwoman and an impoverished Portuguese, Luís Gama was born free, but was sold into slavery by his indebted father.
He went to São Paulo at the age of 10 and worked as a domestic slave. He learned to read at 17 and, at this time, was able to prove to the courts that he was unjustly held as a slave and that he should therefore be set free.
Once free, Gama began to act as a shyster, an unqualified lawyer who pleaded for specific causes. In his case, Luís Gama managed to free more than 500 slaves claiming that every black who arrived in Brazil after 1831 should be free, as the Feijó Law said.
An abolitionist writer, Luís Gama's funeral was a real event in São Paulo, accompanied by 4000 people.
In 2015, the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) posthumously granted him the official title of lawyer.
10. André Rebouças (1838-1898) - engineer and political activist
Born in Bahia, André Rebouças was the son of an advisor to Emperor Dom Pedro I and studied engineering abroad.
He built docks at the ports of Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Recife. He proposed ways to improve the water supply of the capital of the Empire and planned railway lines together with his brothers Antônio and José.
Abolitionist, friend of the Imperial Family, was one of the founders of the "Brazilian Society Against Slavery". THE Princess Isabel he caused a scandal when he danced with André Rebouças at the Court balls, making his abolitionist position clear.
A monarchist, she accompanied the imperial family in their exile in Lisbon and from there left for Angola.
11. Francisco José do Nascimento (1839-1914) - sailor and political activist
Born in Ceará, son of fishermen, he learned the trade of the sea from an early age and acted as chief practical. Abolitionism spread throughout the country and in Ceará it had the decisive support of the raftsmen.
In 1881, the raftsmen, led by Francisco do Nascimento, refused to transport the slaves to the south of the country. In this way, commerce was paralyzed.
The Jangadeiro act ran across the country and was hailed by abolitionists as a heroic gesture. From then on, his nickname would be "Sea Dragon" and would go down in the history of the state and the country.
Ceará was the first province in Brazil to abolish slavery in 1884.
12. Machado de Assis (1839-1908) - writer, journalist and poet
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was born into a poor family. Since he was little, the boy was interested in books and learned French, the language with which he would write some poems.
He was a civil servant in several ministries, while developing his literary activity publishing chronicles and stories in newspapers.
Still he would write nine foundational novels for the Brazilian literature among which "Dom Casmurro" and "Posthumous Memories of Brás Cubas" stand out.
In addition, he founded the Academia Brasileira de Letras, and was its first president. The institution still plays an important role in the dissemination of the Portuguese language and has its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.
13. Estêvão Silva (1845-1891) - painter, draughtsman and teacher
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Estêvão graduated as a painter at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. The Academy received a large number of blacks and children of manumitted and Estêvão Silva is considered the greatest of them all.
He specialized in still life painting, and critic Gonzaga Duque noted that "no one was able to paint them as well as Estevão Silva". Likewise, he portrayed landscapes and religious figures.
Despite being forgotten by Brazilian historiography, Estêvão Silva participated in the Grimm Group, which renewed Brazilian landscaping in the 19th century.
On Boa Viagem beach, in Niterói (RJ), the members painted under the guidance of the German Georg Grimm. Artists such as Antônio Parreiras and França Júnior took part, among others.
The Afro Brasil Museum, in São Paulo, held an exhibition to rescue the figure of this important character.
14. José do Patrocínio (1853-1905) - pharmacist and political activist
Born in Campo dos Goytacazes (RJ), José do Patrocínio went to the capital of the Empire to study Pharmacy while working at Santa Casa de Misericórdia.
However, he soon left the laboratory for the newsroom where he ardently defended the end of slavery.
With Joaquim Nabuco, in 1880, he founded the Brazilian Society Against Slavery. In addition to political rallies, the organization raised money for manumissions and facilitated slave escapes. Likewise, he ran for and won the election for councilor of Rio de Janeiro in 1886.
signed to Golden Law, in 1888, Patrocínio went to Paris, from where he returned with the first car in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Likewise, it invests its savings in the manufacture of airships. He dies of tuberculosis at the age of 51.
15. João da Cruz e Souza (1861-1898) - poet and writer
Born in Santa Catarina, he left for the capital, where he was an archivist for the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil. He collaborated with several newspapers and was aware of the abolitionist cause that was unfolding at that time.
He published three books in his lifetime, but it was his posthumous work "Evocações" that guaranteed him a place among the great Brazilian writers.
His poems are the first of the Symbolist style in Brazil. Despite this, he died like a romantic poet, as tuberculosis ended his life when he was only 36 years old.
16. Nilo Peçanha (1867-1924) - President of the Republic
Nilo Peçanha is considered the first Afro-descendant president of Brazil, taking office after the death of Afonso Pena, in 1909. It is important to remember that, at that time, vice presidents were also voted on by voters, independently.
Although his government only lasted a year, during his term, Nilo Peçanha created the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, the Indian Protection Service (SPI, predecessor of Funai), and inaugurated the first technical education school in the Brazil.
The politician was also governor of Rio de Janeiro on two occasions, senator and foreign minister.
17. Mother Little Girl from Gantois (1894-1986) - Iyálorixá
Born in Bahia, Escolástica da Conceição de Nazaré was a descendant of a lineage of Iyálorixás, female leaders who command a Candomblé terreiro.
Mãe Meninha do Gantois was chosen at the age of 28 to be the director of Gantois, a terreiro that had been founded by her great-grandmother.
In the 30s, the Candomblé or Umbanda were prohibited by law. However, she excelled in making Candomblé known to intellectuals and politicians.
The legion of admirers of the mother of saints included names such as Jorge Amado, Dorival Caymmi, Vinicius de Moraes, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, etc.
Thanks to her wisdom, the Afro-Brazilian religion gained more visibility and respect.
18. Pixinguinha (1897-1973) - musician, composer and arranger
Pixinguinha, nicknamed Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho, is considered the greatest Brazilian flutist, and still played cavaquinho, piano and saxophone. He started to learn music at home and, at the age of 14, already performed in nightclubs.
In the silent film era, black artists were not hired for the orchestras that accompanied the film, nor did they play in the cinema hall.
However, with the Spanish flu, Pixinguinha manages to convince a producer to hire his band "The Eight Batutas", integrated only by black musicians. The group would cheer viewers up before the film screenings.
Later "The Eight Batutas" tour Europe for six months and return triumphant.
Pixinguinha goes to the radio where he writes arrangements and meets the great singers of the time, such as Orlando Silva, who would record "Tender". His songs are still in the repertoire of choro groups, samba and MPB, as he is considered the founder of modern Brazilian music.
19. Antonieta de Barros (1901-1952) - teacher, journalist and deputy
Born in Santa Catarina, Antonieta de Barros was a teacher and dedicated her entire life to teaching.
Likewise, she founded newspapers where she defended feminist ideas. In the 1930s, she entered politics and was the first black state deputy in the country and the first female deputy in the state of Santa Catarina.
Likewise, she was elected in 1934, by the Liberal Party of Santa Catarina, to the assembly that would draft the new Constitution. He was on the commissions that would report on the Education and Culture and Functionalism chapters.
She was part of the Santa Catarina legislative assembly until 1937, when the Estado Novo dictatorship began. Later, she returned to devote herself to teaching, occupying management positions in several schools.
In 1947, she returned to be state deputy in her state and was the author of the law that transformed October 15th into "Teachers' Day" in Santa Catarina (Law nº 145, of October 12th, 1948).
20. Laudelina de Campos Melo (1904-1991) - maid and political activist
Born in Poços de Caldas (MG), from an early age she helped her mother with housework, making sweets to help support the house. Even so, she participated in cultural associations and joined the PCB in the 1930s.
Laudelina founded the first Association of Domestic Workers in Brazil, later closed by the new state.
With the return of democracy, Laudelina continued to fight for the valorization of black culture and domestic work. For this, she helped to found political and cultural associations.
It also organized demonstrations and petitions to pressure legislators to enact laws favorable to domestic workers.
She left her home in a will to the Association she had helped to create.
21. Carolina de Jesus (1914-1977) - writer
Born in the city of Sacramento (MG), Carolina Maria de Jesus attended school for only two years.
In search of a better life, she went to São Paulo where she lived in the Canindé favela and supported her three children by selling paper and iron.
In the 60s, the favela would be displaced due to real estate speculation and Carolina narrates the daily life of the place in a diary. There, she tells the ailments and the struggle for survival in a raw but poetic language.
Journalist Audálio Dantas, from Folha da Noite, who covered the government's action, helps Carolina publish her notes. The book would be released under the title “Storage Room”.
The publication is an immediate success and is translated into 29 languages. They would follow below, where she describes the place of black women within Brazilian society, and “proverbs”. Her biography would be published posthumously, in 1986, as “Bitita Diary”.
Read too Carolina Maria de Jesus: biography and books.
22. Abdias do Nascimento (1914-2011) - intellectual, actor and politician
Born in Franca (SP), Abdias do Nascimento was a great precursor in the artistic and political life of Brazil. Founder of Teatro Experimental do Negro, in 1944, the Museum of Black Art and IPEAFRO, in the 1980s, dedicated to researching and disseminating the history of Africa. He also helped to design the Zumbi dos Palmares Memorial, in Alagoas.
Engaged in the black movement in Brazil, he collaborated with the Frente Negra Brasileira. During the military dictatorship (1964-1985) he went to the United States where he was a university professor. Likewise, he served as a deputy and senator.
Abdias do Nascimento released several works on themes related to the condition of the black among which stands out "The Genocide of the Brazilian Negro - Process of a Masked Racism", 1978.
A man of diverse talents, Abdias do Nascimento was still a visual artist and made several works that were inspired by African art. Likewise, he dressed in prints and garments of African origin.
It is also often compared to the American pastor Martin Luther King for its commitment to the civil rights of the Afro-descendant population.
23. Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (1927-2001) - Olympic athlete
Born in São Paulo, Adhemar was a pioneer in Brazilian athletics in the triple jump category. He defended the colors of São Paulo and Vasco da Gama, in Rio de Janeiro.
His first title was the Troféu Brasil in 1947, and he would continue to shine as a three-time Pan American and South American champion and breaking several world records.
Consecrated at the Olympics in Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956), he was the first athlete to win a gold medal for Brazil and to be a two-time Olympic champion.
In addition, he was a sculptor and participated in the film "Black Orpheus", awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1959. He graduated in Physical Education, Law and Public Relations. He was also appointed cultural attaché in Nigeria, where he would serve from 1964 to 1967.
24. Grande Othello (1915-1993) - actor and singer
Born in Uberlândia (MG), Sebastião Bernardes de Souza Prata would be the first black Brazilian actor of national and international projection. The nickname came from his singing lessons, as the teacher predicted that he would sing the role of "Othello" by Verdi when he grew up.
His artistic career began on the streets of his hometown, when the boy sang and made fun of passersby looking for a change. When a circus arrived in town, Grande Otelo performed with them and continued on to São Paulo.
Thus began a fruitful career as an actor in theater and film, especially in comedies alongside Oscarito.
However, he also recorded titles with Cinema Novo directors such as "Rio Zona Norte" by Nelson Pereira dos Santos and "Macunaíma" by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade.
He was also the first black actor to act at the Cassino da Urca and, later, would participate in several television programs.
The Estácio de Sá Samba School honored him in 1986 and the Santa Cruz Samba School did the same in 2015. Both associations are from Rio de Janeiro.
25. Ruth de Souza (1921-2019) - actress
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Ruth lost her father at age nine and her mother worked as a laundress to raise her three children. He soon became interested in theater and joined the Teatro Experimental do Negro, by Abdias de Nascimento. She also enjoyed going to the movies and listening to opera together with her mother.
Through the critic Paschoal Carlos Magno, she gets a scholarship to study acting in the United States.
Ruth de Souza was the first black actress to act at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro.
Likewise, she was the first black actress to receive a best actress nomination for her role in the movie "Sinhá Moça". This took place at the Venice International Festival in 1954.
For this reason, she is called the black first lady of Brazilian dramaturgy. He built a successful career in theatre, film and television.
See too:
- Phrases for Black Consciousness Day
- Origin of Black Consciousness Day
- Poems to reflect on Black Consciousness
