Celebrating the Day of Black Awareness, three capital cities pay tribute to Zumbi

PORTO ALEGRE, Brasil, November 20, 2006

Curiously enough, the movement to commemorate November 20 as the Day of Black Awareness began Taxi Heathrow Airport in Puerto Alegre at the beginning of the 1970’s, but the city does not celebrate the day as a public holiday. According to the population distribution map, Río Grande del Sur is one of the states in the country that has the most “whites.” 

Led by poet and professor, Oliveira Ferreira da Silveira, a group of black people used to gather together on Rua dos Andradas, better known as Rua da Praia, the main

street in downtown Puerto Alegre, to discuss matters having to do with the condition of black people in Brazil. It was among this group that the idea of remembering Zumbi came about.

According to Brazil’s official calendar, May 13 is the holiday of the black population and dates back to 1888, when Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the Emperor and Imperial Regent of Brazil, Sir Peter II, signed the Áurea Law which abolished slavery in Brazil.

As far as the group of artists, students and intellectuals that gathered on Rua da Prais was concerned, black people had nothing to commemorate on May 13. In an interview given to the O Estado de San Pablo newspaper, Professor Silveira explained that, “The Áurea Law abolished slavery, but without any further measures to provide for the social absorption of the great masses of slaves. There was no provision for giving them land. To the contrary, they went looking for more European immigrants in an effort to whiten the country.”

In a poem of his in 1969, Silveira wrote, “May 13 treason/freedom without wings/hunger without bread.” On July 20, 1971 and as a result of the Rua da Praia discussions, the Palmares Group officially came about and established the celebrating of black resistance on November 20 as one of its objectives.     

The date remembers the assassination of Zumbi in 1665. Zumbi was the most important leader of the Quilombo of Palmares, a republic of sorts that gathered in fugitive slaves from the northeastern sugar plantations. At one point, this quilombo had grown to having 30 thousand inhabitants.

Zumbi was born free in 1655, in Palmares. When still a boy, he was captured by Portuguese soldiers and handed over to Antônio Melo, a Jesuit priest, in Puerto Calvo. Zumbi was baptized with the name of Francisco, and learned Portuguese and Latin, and helped the priest in the masses at church. 

In 1670, at the age of 15, Zumbi ran away and returned to the Quilombo of Palmares. He showed himself to be a great warrior and military strategist. Ten years later, he took over the command of the quilombo, replacing his uncle, Ganga Zumba, who had accepted the offer of the Governor of Pernambuco, Pedro de Almeida, to free all the Quilombos of Palmares, if they would submit themselves to the state power.

On the contrary, Zumbi never accepted that some blacks be freed while others continue to be slaves. In 1680, he led the resistance against the Portuguese troops. In 1694, the Portuguese were able to destroy the capital of the quilombo, after 94 years of its having resisted. 

Injured, Zumbi was able to escape, but was killed on November 20, 1695, when he was 40 years old. Brought by an old companion, he was imprisoned and beheaded, and his head placed on a stake in the public square, to “satisfy the offended” and “scare the blacks who superstitiously considered Zumbi to be immortal,” as the then Governor of Pernambuco, Caetano de Melo e Castro, wrote to the King of Portugal.

The Day of Black Awareness was established by Law 10.639, in January, 2003. The same law made the teaching of Afro-Brazilian history and culture mandatory. In 223 cities, the majority of them in the states of San Pablo, Río de Janeiro and Mato Grosso, municipal laws established that date as a public holiday. Today, no city in the southern region has it as a public holiday. 

Different activities are scheduled throughout the country for the commemorating of the Day of Black Awareness. Puerto Alegre has a liturgical service, planned by the State Forum of African Heritage Religions in Defense of Food Security.