Located in the southeast region of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in the country. Rio attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from many parts of the world every year. Known for its beautiful beaches and impressive landscapes, tourists flock to visit the famous Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugar Loaf mountain. From there they can see some of the best views in the world. Enjoying the beach on a sunny day and having lunch in one of the Restaurants or the bars near the beach are some of the favorite activities in the city that many tourists love to do when they are there.
But Rio de Janeiro has other interesting things to offer. As home to the second largest black population in Brazil, with around 3 million people, almost 50% of the total population, the city is filled with a strong Afrocentric culture that shows the importance of the contributions of its black population in the city.
Here are some of the black historical and cultural sites you should visit:
Museum of Afro-Brazilian History and Culture (Muhcab)
Its mission is to promote a broad understanding of black history and culture in Brazil. Muhcab features hundreds of works highlighting the importance of the African people in shaping Brazilian culture, heritage and identity as it is known today. In addition, it celebrates the art and achievements of Africans and Afro-Brazilians.
New Black Cemetery Museum
Buried and forgotten for nearly 200 years, a cemetery for African slaves who arrived in Rio de Janeiro in the 18th and 19th centuries was transformed into a museum.
Discovered in the 1990s during a renovation process of an abandoned house in Rio de Janeiro, the Pretos Novos Cemetery Museum (Newly Arrived Blacks Cemetery Museum) is now located in downtown Rio, and it is one of the most painful sites of Brazil’s slavery era.
Valongo Quay
The Valongo wharf is a place where most enslaved Africans entered Rio and where there was a large slave market.
In 2017, the wharf was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men
The Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary was a benevolent secular association of enslaved black Brazilians dating back to the 1600s. The association built Catholic churches in many Brazilian states. In Rio de Janeiro, the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black People was built in 1737, with the resources of liberated black Brazilians who live in an area called Little Africa.
The church played an important role in welcoming abolitionists; There they came together to establish plans to end slavery in Brazil in the late 1800s.
Uruguaiana Street, 77- Centro – Rio de Janeiro.
Pedra do Sal
Pedra do Sal (The Salt Rock) is part of the region historically known as Little Africa.
There, liberated blacks inhabited and promoted Afro-Brazilian culture such as samba music and capoeira (Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics and music) in the late 1800s after the era of slavery ended in Brazil.
On the houses and forrós of the slaves he played the “choro with flute”, small guitar and guitar. In the backyard, the rural samba played with the hands, with tambourine, plate and knives; and dancing with clappers, sieves and “umbigadas”. This is where the urban carioca samba was born, coming from the “popular sambistas” and the old carnival ranches.
Pedra do Sal was also considered a sacred place for orders and offerings from African religions. As historical and religious heritage, from there it was extracted by slaves, in the 19th century, stone sizes for the construction of roads and the port of Rio de Janeiro. The place, which was very close to the sea, served as a departure and arrival point for salt, used in the manufacture of leather and canned meat.
Today, Pedra do Sal is a lively samba stage of the Roda de Pedra group. The place has friendly, colorful casarios, flanked by a staircase and the historic slope of the rock. The party attracts tourists and young people from many parts of the city.
Black-owned restaurants
Afro-Brazilian cuisine has a strong West African influence. Malagueta pepper, dendê (palm oil), seafood, coconut milk, banana and okra are some of the main ingredients that make black Brazilian cuisine so unique. these are some of our favorite black-owned restaurants in Rio.
Black evenings
One of the best ways to experience Afro-Brazilian culture in Rio is to explore its many black parties across the city. From the birthplace of samba in Little Africa to R&B parties in Madureira, Rio’s darkest neighborhood.
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