November 20 – National Day of Black Consciousness

nPostednon November 20, 2016

nHavenyou heard of Zumbi, King of the Quilombo dos Palmares?

nBacknin the late 1600s, Portuguese colonizers in Brazil had been enslavingnAfrican people for more than a century. But some African slaves hadnmanaged to escape from their bondage and got together in freensettlements. These fugitives-from-the-law are alsonrefugees-from-slavery, and they were called Maroons; the settlementsnthey created were called quilombos. n

nThenmembers of quilombos did several things to resist slavery:

nTheyn returned secretly to plantations and urged fellow former Africans ton flee and join the quilombos.

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nTheyn sabotaged the plantations.

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nTheyn sometimes captured and brought to the quilombos enslaved people whon didn’t choose to join them; the people who were brought by forcen continued to be viewed as slaves until they were able to bringn another member to the settlement, at which point they weren considered free.

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nThey tried to seize power from the Portuguese.

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nThenarea of Brazil that was called Quilombo dos Palmares was a regionnroughly the size of Portugal; at its height, there were about 30,000npeople living there. However, they did not live in peace. ThenPortuguese settlers repeatedly attacked Palmares. n

nZumbinwas born free in Palmares in 1655. He was likely related to Kongonnobility. When he was about six years old, he was captured by somenPortuguese people and given as a slave to a missionary. While livingnwith the Portuguese, Zumbi learned Portuguese and Latin, and henlearned about the Catholic religion. But when he was a teenager, henescaped and returned to his birthplace. n

nZumbinbecame known as a strong, smart young man, someone who could come upnwith effective military strategies. He became king of Palmares. n

nFifteennyears after Zumbi became king, the Portuguese mounted a big-timenattack on Palmares, and using artillery guns (cannons) the Portuguesenwere able to destroy the settlement. Zumbi was wounded in one leg butnmanaged to escape capture. He continued the rebellion against thenPortuguese for two years. He was betrayed by one of his formernquilombo members, and on this date in 1695 he was captured andnbeheaded on the spot. n

nThenPortuguese showed off Zumbi’s head as a warning to other Maroons andnBrazilians of African descent. Remnants of quilombo members continuednto resist the Portuguese for another century! But Zumbi was the lastnof their kings.

nNownZumbi is seen as a national hero, a freedom fighter, a symbol ofnfreedom and of the fight against slavery. n

nAfricanncultural influences have been huge in Brazil. About 7% of today’snBrazilians considers themselves black, and about 43% considernthemselves “pardo,” brown, which is a multi-racial group.nTogether, the two groups are about half of all Brazilians. n

nAfrican-Braziliannculture includes cuisine, music, dance, religion, and otherntraditions. Today is a great day to celebrate these influences.