Brazil and Racism: Examining the Unified Black Movement, 1970-2000

In 1978, two events changed the current understanding of race in Brazil. The killing of a Black worker who died while in police custody, and the dismissal of four black volleyball players because the manager didn’t want to inspire more Black players to join the team and lose white customers who were against the inclusion of Afro-Brazilians. These two events inspired the creation of the Unified Black Movement (MNU) a month after the events occurred, leading to the challenging of social apartheid which had been implemented by Brazilian society this day leading to an increase in Black Consciousness through the change of when Black history day was and an overall push towards racial equality through legislation changes made to the Brazilian constitution, that’s continued to this day. The Unified Black Movement ended up becoming the most influential black mobilization group since Brazilian abolition occurred in 1888