My Great Great Grandmother was a slave, she came to Bahia/Brazil from Africa, to work in the Portuguese homes.
My great grandmother Vo Ba, like we used to call her, Maria Benedita Palma was born a slave and was freed when the slaves were abolished in May, 13th, 1888 by Princess Isabel, also from Portugal, the new Empire’s regent in a recently free country!
My great grandma ruled the household with a firm hand and I still remember seeing her with a cane, instructing the maids and shouting orders at everybody. Always with a strong, not always nice personality, but somehow I always seem to remember her frail smile, when we came to visit!
She often overlooked my pranks and misbehavior and seemed to be entertained at my also strong and defiant personality at such early age. She died at age 105, I was very young but my memories of summers spent with them, left an indelible imprint in molding my character.
MLK day made me reflect on our heritage and her influence in me, buried so deep inside. Buried because in Brazil, yes, in the brown skin country, prejudice is an unspoken shadow still hanging over the mulatos who proudly say they are not black and which supports the culture of middle and upper class having maids and servants of color; the abolition only happened in the paper, the discrimination continued way longer, years and years and it is still present in the society.
So people with my skin color, don’t consider themselves black, wouldn’t even conceive of being black, because that would place them in an “inferior” position, in a lower cultural place.
You are probably wondering, how can the country with the second largest black population in the world offer a home for such prejudice?
How can people who also have dark skin see others of dark skin color as inferior? When they themselves display the strong and undeniable mark of that race?
This a very sensitive subject for me, since I grew up and was raised with the silent prejudice, nobody tells you blacks are inferior. You are just not black, you should not be proud to be black, it’s just implicit in the color of the maids we had over the years, in the people in the slums. In the pictures of police arrests; in the private schools where elite learn to continue to be the elite and the others go through the ins and outs of the public system. In so many subtle and not so subtle messages which sadly made my country, at least while I was living there, until 2001, a society of prejudice, a society of shame, who lives on glory of the black heritage foundation.
I know I will be criticized for this post, but if you are truly Brazilian and if you look at our society, this is a sad undeniable truth and I am as guilty as anybody else there for being a part of it.
My heritage is undeniable, on my curls, my nose, my skin tone; on the Baian typical food which is tinted by dende oil, with strong aroma and color that left an everlasting mark of the African influence on the food of my home state. Our music, with strong drums and African rhythms that to this day shake the grounds during carnival. The capoeira, now learned in gyms all over the world, was a fight/dance practice among slaves in the senzalas.
The paradox is that those strong elements, which made my country famous, are the same elements, which to this day reminds them that there is segregation and yes, those are a strong mark of a subculture.
It is so hard to explain, but I wanted to leave you with one example, how the upper class drives to the “ensaios”, large parties where predominantly black bands play the African/carnival music and yet, the ” non colored elites” discriminate those who are there with them and who are entertaining them.
I often avoid to offend anybody with my posts or touch on racial/political issues, but the holiday made me think of my great grandmother and how much I look and have of her in me, which make me proud of being who I am, so I wanted to set the record straight and couldn’t accomplish that without giving you a basic overview of my society and what lies underneath it.
It is a side of my country and society I’m not proud of, but I believe it is time to address it and say it out loud, yes, I have black heritage, and yes, I should be proud of it! You can see it in my smile, in my tan, in my music preferences, you can see it in me!
Photo credits: Princesa Isabel – unknown source
I wrote this on your Facebook page and I am copying and pasting it here: My mother is from Colombia and while I believe this is much more in the spotlight in Brazil, I understand. I am the white child. My mother married a white European man and here I am with the last name Wilson, blue-green eyes and light hair. They call me leche because my skin is so fair. I grew up LONGING for the dark hair, exotic features and curvy figure my European heritage (I felt) robbed me of. It was an odd line to walk eating arroz con pollo, speaking Spanish with an accent and never really being white enough or Hispanic enough. My mother’s family in Cartagena de Indias immigrated from Las Islas de Canarias – and those in Spain had immigrated from Morocco, Africa. I am extremely proud of my heritage, but it’s like I have to be proud in private because my skin is too white for my pride to be authentic. I’m 42 years old and it’s felt this way my whole life.
I was quite unaware the racism in Brazil was still so prevalent until Nayara Justino was stripped of her Globeleza title – likely due to her dark skin (I think she is stunningly beautiful). The Guardian did a documentary and in it points out a famous painting – A Redenção de Cam – that really speaks to what you’ve written about. It is tragic. That painting literally makes my heart ache. (For those interested, I believe the name of the documentary is Too Black for Brazil.)
I applaud you for your post and for speaking out. Silence is complicity and good for you for raising your voice on something so vital – especially in these times.
Thank you so much for sharing your story with me and for being a part of our community! So important to raise our voices and speak for what we believe in…
Everyone should be able to take pride in where they come from. It is such a shame that it has come down to people feeling like they can’t.
I love your honesty. I’m extremely proud of where I come! Unfortunately in my country this still exists and many are faced with this daily especially when it comes to jobs.
This was a great post to read. I really appreciate the things you said girl!
We should be proud of who we are and where we came from. I am a Filipino and proud of it. There will always be judgmental people out there, but I could care less. And speaking of MLK, this is my most fave quote of him… “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Your grandmother living to 105 is incredible! It sounds like she really loved you and it so cool you know so much about your heritage. I really want to work on my ancestry.
Respecting your past and where you came from is so important! I love the MLK day now encourages reflection for everyone! I think he’d be so proud of that! [www.kendallrayburn.com]
What a great story, she sounds amazing! I think respecting our past, looking at the lessons learned and taking pride in all of our heritage is very important. This is a great day for reflection on all of those things!
awesome article. It is so very important to embrace your heritage. being an african american women i totally understand.
It’s important to embrace your heritage for it helps form who you are as a person. Thank you for sharing your story. Your great grandmother sounds like an amazing woman.
I love learning more about the bloggers that I follow. I can only hope to live as long as your granny. I try to spend each day making an impression on my grandkids.
Glad to hear that you had time with your granny. I really miss my grandmother, she is the one who took care of me and my sister.
This is a great post and story you are sharing. I do believe we all are not proud of things we were taught from our elders or parts of our heritage but we should not be ashamed of it either. Thanks for sharing your heritage and your thoughts.
Thanks for sharing! Your great grandmother sounds amazing! It’s great to know your story!
I admire you for posting this. I envy you because you got to spend time with your great grandmother. I never had the chance to meet my great grandma and my grandma also passed away when I was still very young.
Thank you for sharing an interesting story about your life. It is wonderful that you have memories of your great grandmother. I don’t know a lot about Brazil but you taught me something today.
This is such a beautiful post! It’s really awesome to hear the story. Thanks for being so open and sharing!
Wow 105 is an amazing age to live to. I wish everyone could embrace their heritage without fear. I will have to start doing some research to get more information about my heritage.
It is good that you can share your history and your feelings about the culture in Brazil. I think that every culture has a group of people that are looked at differently. I think it is important to open a discussion about it and move beyond it.
You are so courageous to put your feelings out there on such an important topic. I’ve always been sensitive to prejudices, not necessarily for myself, but for friends and family. I feel strongly for those who experience any type of prejudices.
I think it is so cool that you actually know that much about your heritage. I wish I knew about where my family came from.
Thank you for your honesty, bravery and ability to share such important info and feelings. I admire your strength and this is so important to read, teach and remember. Thank you! Hoping for a world with less racism and hate, we need to be vocal.
It’s wonderful that you were willing to talk about such a sensitive part of your culture. It’s upsetting to know that so many areas of the world have problems with classicism, racism and other types of discrimination.
I know this post is not recent but it can very much be applied to the United States right now as well. Your post makes it glaringly obvious that this is a world wide problem but that changes must first happen on a local level. You are strong woman and should be proud of your courage to write this!
I never saw this post before and I just wanted to share that I am so proud of you for stepping up and claiming your heritage.
I am also loving getting to know you through these more personal posts.
Beautiful post.
Embracing your heritage is really important. I think we can learn a lot from the past and from our ancestors! Thanks for the heartfelt post.
As the world grows smaller, it seems so insignificant that skin color still determines how people are treated in all corners of the world. We are still seeing that clearly in politics in the United States as a resurgence of hatred is spawning incidents around our country.
Thank you so much for sharing this! Black vs white. Rich vs poor. One region vs another region. Racism and prejudice are everywhere and they’re always ugly. Wonderful post!
You know what the best part of this post is? It really serves to highlight that racism isn’t just an American thing. Racism is everywhere throughout the world. Thank you.
I enjoy hearing about your heritage and learning more about your family. You really got it together and I love that you are able to share this to help others. I can’t wait to meet you.
Love this honesty. I think if we speak more openly about it somethings might change? I dunno. I had a coworker from Brazil and he too would fill me on the racial divide of the past and present. Thanks for sharing some more info
What a wonderful post. I really appreciate your honest sharing about your family and your culture. I’ve often had discussions with friends about the diaspora and the experiences of black people in other nations. This was fascinating to read. Thank you for sharing your family with us.
Thank you so much, Nic, it means a lot to me!
Thank you for sharing more of your culture and your family history with us. As an African-American, I do know about the prejudice even within culture. It was interesting to read your perspective.
wow!!!! What a history you have.I am so glad you were able to know your great grandmother. So many don’t have the opportunity.
I had know idea the black population in Brazil was so large. Your family history is amazing! I wish I could find out more about my family’s history. Thank you for your transparency. Criticized or not, great post!
Beautiful post. Thank you for sharing your history with us! I understand the silent prejudice. I think about the words I heard as a child and I hope my child never heart them, but I also hope they don’t see silence, but love towards all people from their father and I.
Thank you, Carrie!
I enjoyed reading this article. I am very interested in how African’s are in almost every culture. I recently saw pictures of Chinese people who look exactly like Africans. It was amazing. Whether we want to accept it or not, Africans are in almost every culture. If one care to research they will find it. Why it should be a source of shame is crazy because Africans are the architect of much innovation, medicine, writings, etc. It’s time the truth be told and proper honor and pride be restored to a great and honorable people! Great read!
Your comment motivated me to write more about my culture, Carol! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this personal post. It’s a great reminder.
Thank you for sharing this. I believe this is a struggle in every society, every town, every community. Those that feel they are better than others etc. Its very prominent everywhere. I think we can change the world though, one blog post at a time. We can talk to our children about what racism means and educated people.
I totally agree with you! My son and I always talk about it!
Thank you for sharing such a personal story. Your great grandmother sounds like an amazing woman!
My great grandfather came from Cuba. I can see our hispanic heritage in my features and my mom’s features, however, our heritage has had no influence in our life. We know nothing of my great grandfather other than he was a flour merchant that left my great grandmother 3 children to raise at a time when divorce was not an option for Catholics.
Loved hearing that, Barb! I did not know you has Hispanic relatives! I guess we are all latinas! 🙂
MLK week is probably one of my favorite holidays. I love seeing so many people come together to talk about something so important. Thanks for your voice!
Great post! loved reading this! its so important to remember! Thanks for sharing!
Interesting to read about your experiences. And wow – 105! Thanks for sharing.