Black History : Quilombolas

Zulile

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Jun 24, 2007
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Hey fam :heart:

I saw this movie Casa de Areia (House of Sand) a few weeks ago and it's stuck with me since. A quick synopsis: It's a film starting in 1910 about a woman (& her mother) who are forcibly taken to the deserts in Brazil by her crazy husband, and after his passing, is forced to spend the next 59 years of her life hopelessly trying to escape it.

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Absolutely stunning scenery, fantastic cinematography & a rather haunting storyline.

While stranded out there, she has contact with a nearby community of Africans.

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When asked what they are doing out there, it is explained their community was born of escaped slaves and they simply never returned. So of course, I had to find out more about that. ;)

Seems there are an estimated 4000 such communities surviving in Brazil today - called quilombolas - descendants of escaped slaves, still maintaining much of their language/culture/beliefs and for the most part, excluded from modern living. Almost 400 quilombolas are currently in legal land battles with the government to save their lands from corporate destruction (deforestation, pollution etc)

It was with great interest I read some of the history of Quilombo dos Palmares a community of 30,000 escaped slaves that rivaled all military attacks on it and survived for nearly 70 years - their warriors all experts in African based fighting methods - capoeia. the final leader of Quilombo dos Palmares was Zumbi (now a Afro-Brazlian hero) - he was born free in Palmares, yet was recaptured at a young age - escaped again to return and eventually lead and fight for the communities independence.

Quite amazing. So many current African communities remain that we dont know enough about, whilst we share the same beginning:

Quilombo de Santa Isabel

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Anyway.. just thought I'd share for those who are interested :)

:heart:
Zulile
 

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