racial identity Archives - Black Women Of Brazil

“They really do go by skin color”: popular white singer/YouTuber perceives difference in how people treat her, her mother and her black father

December 14, 2019 Marques Travae 3

Note from BW of Brazil: I have to admit, I had never even heard of Maisa Silva. But that’s no biggie. In the vast world […]

Question of Identity: In the northeastern state of Bahia, people declaring themselves specifically preto, or black, now outnumbers whites

September 30, 2019 Marques Travae 0

Question of Identity: Self-declared pretos, or blacks, outnumber whites in Bahia For experts, an increase in the number of self-declared blacks in Bahia has to […]

Again?!? With release of new video “Muito Calor”, singer Anitta is accused of cultural appropriation and being “conveniently black”

July 16, 2019 Marques Travae 0

Note from BW of Brazil: Well, let me just quote what someone recently wrote in criticism of singer Anitta’s latest music video…She’ll never learn! The […]

With blue eyes and white skin, man fired from job for fraud; articifically darkened skin, wore contact lenses, passed as black to take advantage of quota system

June 11, 2019 Marques Travae 2

Note: You see, it’s stories like this that making covering stories from Brazil from a racial perspective fun…at least sometimes. If you’re new to racial issues […]

How I (re)discovered myself as black: Columnist tells how she grew up “in a white world”

June 1, 2019 Marques Travae 2

Note from BW of Brazil: A little over a week ago I posted a story on how Brazil’s black population continues to grow. In fact, […]

In Brazil, is being black a choice? Two women illustrate why it is so difficult to know exactly how black Brazilians there really are

May 27, 2019 Marques Travae 0

Note from BW of Brazil: This type of article really gets to the crux of understanding the complexities that come into play if the discussion […]

In the past six years, the number of Brazilians defining themselves as specifically black increases by 32%

May 24, 2019 Marques Travae 0

Note from BW of Brazil: This report is most definitely a reason for celebration because it shows that more and more people are becoming conscious […]

“They defend you if you’re black or gay, but not fat”: Does former futebol superstar Ronaldo still see himself as a white man?

May 22, 2019 Marques Travae 2

Note from BW of Brazil: Today’s story takes me down memory lane for a few reasons. First because I still remember when Ronaldo, the known […]

“Black? Who me?! It took me over 30 years to learn to be black”: A journalist explains the process that led her to becoming a black woman

February 25, 2019 Marques Travae 0

Note from BW of Brazil: Brazil has a very sophisticated form of racism. In it, you will find both the subtle and difficult to detect forms […]

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Students disapproved by a university quota commission protest; according to commission of racial self-declaration, students weren’t black or brown enough

February 24, 2019 Marques Travae 0

Note from BW of Brazil: This whole thing is beyond intriguing. For years, Brazil’s system of quotas has provoked all sorts of controversial reactions and […]

Court declares one must “look like an African descendant in the eyes of the average man” to qualify for affirmative action, rejecting another case of a white student “passing” for black

November 12, 2018 Marques Travae 3

Court declares one must “look like an African descendant in the eyes of the average man” to qualify for affirmative action, rejecting another case of […]

“I found out I was black at age 67”: A chronicle about identity

November 4, 2018 Marques Travae 3

Note from BW of Brazil: When I first got into the issues of race, racism and racial identity in Brazil, I came across wild estimations […]

How loving a black woman helped me to discover more about my experience as a black man and the difficulties of being black in Brazil

January 28, 2018 Marques Travae 4

Note from BW of Brazil: I really dug this piece. The reason being is that, even with so many people of African descent coming […]

Reflections of a whitened blackness: The difficulties of defining oneself when seen as being ‘too white to be black’ but ‘too black to be white’

January 18, 2018 Marques Travae 1

Note from BW of Brazil: The text presented below perfectly demonstrate the sometimes difficult task of racial classification in Brazil. It is a topic that […]

Black Women Of Brazil

The site dedicated to Brazilian women of African descent

racial identity

“They really do go by skin color”: popular white singer/YouTuber perceives difference in how people treat her, her mother and her black father

Question of Identity: In the northeastern state of Bahia, people declaring themselves specifically preto, or black, now outnumbers whites

Again?!? With release of new video “Muito Calor”, singer Anitta is accused of cultural appropriation and being “conveniently black”

With blue eyes and white skin, man fired from job for fraud; articifically darkened skin, wore contact lenses, passed as black to take advantage of quota system

How I (re)discovered myself as black: Columnist tells how she grew up “in a white world”

In Brazil, is being black a choice? Two women illustrate why it is so difficult to know exactly how black Brazilians there really are

In the past six years, the number of Brazilians defining themselves as specifically black increases by 32%

“They defend you if you’re black or gay, but not fat”: Does former futebol superstar Ronaldo still see himself as a white man?

“Black? Who me?! It took me over 30 years to learn to be black”: A journalist explains the process that led her to becoming a black woman

Students disapproved by a university quota commission protest; according to commission of racial self-declaration, students weren’t black or brown enough

Court declares one must “look like an African descendant in the eyes of the average man” to qualify for affirmative action, rejecting another case of a white student “passing” for black

“I found out I was black at age 67”: A chronicle about identity

How loving a black woman helped me to discover more about my experience as a black man and the difficulties of being black in Brazil

Reflections of a whitened blackness: The difficulties of defining oneself when seen as being ‘too white to be black’ but ‘too black to be white’

With cuts in government investment in the health care system, the spread of the coronavirus affects the lives of black Brazilians more

“We’re used to thinking white is prettier, cleaner” – Palmitagem: A term that has caused a necessary discomfort in thinking about race and relationships

Palmitagem (swirling) is a very big relationship of self-hate; seeking in whites a love that they destroyed within you and your ancestors is bizarre

From black skin to blue eyes: Why did the social network of a popular black hairstylist celebrate the whitening of his family on Black Consciousness Day?

The black woman and love: 3 women tell how ethnicity impacts their relationships and what they learned about themselves living with their partners

“Malcolm X’s assassins were black”: Director José Padilha makes reference to Malcolm X’s killers to justify the absence of Afro-Brazilian directors in TV series

“There are no Brazilian Spike Lees”: Writer of series on slain councilwoman Marielle Franco ignores award-winning black Brazilian filmmakers to justify absence of blacks on TV project

Why is an award-winning actor appearing on a reality show? The challenge of being a black actor in the Brazil’s film and TV industry: The case of Babu Santana

Depicting Jesus, Mary and Joseph as black men and women, Rio’s Mangueira samba school sends a message: “If Jesus were alive today, he’d be black”

“For Us, By Us”: With all-black staff, Black Barbie Agency in Porto Alegre seeks to promote black protagonism in Brazil’s Eurocentric fashion industry

“Advertising itself was born racist”: Brazil’s advertising industry continues to value whiteness, but black presence has recently increased, what does this mean?

With November being the Month of Black Consciousness in Brazil, recently released study provides insight into the most pressing issues of the black population

Only 7.4% of commercials feature black women in leading role, research reveals

Research shows increased presence of blacks in TV commercials; black men (1%-11%) and black women (4%-16%) see increases in representation

Did President Bolsonaro order Bank of Brazil to pull commercial from air because it featured too many black people?