Black University in Brazil Celebrates Its First Graduating Class

by Rachel Cantave

          The historically black college (HBC) is a reflection of America’s history of legalized segregation and the relentless attempts of African Americans to attain a higher education in a society that generally denied them access to it.  In Brazil, falsely identified as the land of “racial democracy” where until fairly recently race/ racism was discussed very little or not at all, they celebrated on March 13th, the first graduating class from Brazil’s first and only black university, Unipalmares Universidade da Cidadania Zumbi dos Palmares.  The graduation had several high profile Afro-Brazilian speakers and guests in addition to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva who acknowledged the university as changing the face of education and race relations in Brazil.  The University, named after Zumbi of Palmares, the legendary quilombo, or maroon society, leader, boasts a 87% Afro-descendent student body, 40% Afro-descendent professors and a tuition lower than Brazil’s minimum wage.  On the cover of the Unipalmares newsletter under a picture of several graduates beaming in their black and blue gowns, in bold print is the word “conquistamos!” or “We have conquered!”  Hopefully the Univerity continues to grow as a successful, positives educational resource for Afro-Brazilians.

          Until then, we were thrilled to hear that three young men from the Steve Biko organization in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil were given the opportunity to study at Morehouse College, one of the first and a highly respected HBC in the United States.  We held an interview with one of the Brazilian Morehouse men, Rogerio Jesus Caldas and uncovered some interesting things about Brazilian-American relations.

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[ To read the Morehouse interview see Exchange Student Flourishes at Morehouse College page]

Rachel Cantave is an alumnus of New York University with a degree in individualized study of anthropology and Latin American/ Caribbean studies.  She is currently volunteering with the Levantamos office in Salvador, Brazil.