The Quilombola story
Brazil’s African slave descendants, the Quilombola, have fought a long and hard struggle for recognition. After the abolition of the slave trade they were left abandoned and ostracised, devoid of rights and outside of Brazilian mainstream society. But things are slowly changing amongst rural communities.
These series of films explores the history of the Quilombola, the use of their land and their continued fight for land rights.
What does it mean to be Quilombola? What is their history? What challenges do they face? Take a look at this short video to find out.
Brazil’s African slave descendants, the Quilombola, have fought a long and hard struggle for recognition. After the abolition of the slave trade they were left abandoned and ostracised, devoid of rights and outside of Brazilian mainstream society. But things are slowly changing amongst rural communities. In the 1988 constitution Brazil’s Quilombola were granted access to land rights and since then they have been actively building a way to secure land titles on the sites where many have lived for generations. Community mapping is an important tool in this process, as is increasing awareness amongst the Brazilian population through education and ecotourism. ‘Freedom’ looks at two Quilombola communities, one with no land title and one benefitting from legal recognition, and examines the disparities between them.
Learn more about how the Quilombo community use their land in a sustainable way - using 400 year old practices to produce organic bananas sold nationally and internationally. The forest provides their medicine too, they survive because of the forest.