Afro-Brazilians

Afro-Brazilians (Portuguese: Afro-brasileiros; pronounced [ˈafɾo bɾaziˈle(j)ɾus]), also known as Black Brazilians (Portuguese: Brasileiros negros), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are more evident are generally seen by others as Blacks and may identify themselves as such, while the ones with less noticeable African features may not be seen as such. However, Brazilians rarely use the term "Afro-Brazilian" as a term of ethnic identity and never in informal discourse.

Preto ("black") and pardo ("brown/mixed") are among five ethnic categories used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), along with branco ("white"), amarelo ("yellow", ethnic East Asian), and indígena (indigenous). In the 2022 census, 20.7 million Brazilians (10,2% of the population) identified as preto, while 92.1 million (45,3% of the population) identified as pardo, together making up 55.5% of Brazil's population. The term preto is usually used to refer to those with the darkest skin colour, so as a result of this many Brazilians of African descent identify themselves as pardos. The Brazilian Black Movement considers pretos and pardos together as part of a single category: negros (Blacks). In 2010, this perspective gained official recognition when Brazilian Congress passed a law creating the Statute of Racial Equality. However, this definition is contested since a portion of pardos are acculturated indigenous people or people with indigenous and European rather than African ancestry, especially in Northern Brazil. A survey from 2002 revealed that if the pardo category were removed from the census, at least half of those identifying as pardo would instead choose to identify as black. Another survey from 2024 showed that only 40% of pardos consider themselves Black.

During the slavery period between the 16th and 19th centuries, Brazil received approximately four to five million Africans, who constituted about 40% of all Africans brought to the Americas. Many Africans who escaped slavery fled to quilombos, communities where they could live freely and resist oppression. In 1850, Brazil determined the definitive prohibition of the transatlantic slave trade and in 1888 the country abolished slavery, making it the last one in the Americas to do so. With the largest Afro-descendant population outside of Africa, Brazil's cultural, social, and economic landscape has been profoundly shaped by Afro-Brazilians. Their contributions are especially notable in sports, cuisine, literature, music, and dance, with elements like samba and capoeira reflecting their heritage. In contemporary times, Afro-Brazilians still face socioeconomic disparities and racial discrimination and continue the fight for racial equality and social justice.

Currently, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) uses five race or color categories in the census: branca (white), parda (brown/mixed), preta (black), amarela (yellow, ethnic East Asian) and indígena (indigenous). In the 1940 census, all individuals who did not identify as "white", "black" or "yellow" were subsequently aggregated into the category "pardo". In other words, people who identified as pardo, moreno, mulato, caboclo, indigenous, among others, were classified as "pardos". In subsequent censuses, pardo was formalized as its own category, while Indigenous peoples gained a separate category only in 1991.

Pardo literally translates to brown, but it can also refer to racial mixture. Activists and scholars associated with the Brazilian Black movement argue that the inclusion of this category in the census distorts Brazil's demographic depiction. They contend that the ideological privileging of whiteness in Brazilian society leads many Brazilians to 'deny their blackness' and 'lighten' themselves on the census by choosing the pardo category. Critics also claim that this distinction encourages Brazilians to separate the Afro-descendant population based on physical appearance, hindering the development of a unified Black identity in Brazil. Many black movement actors prefer the term negro, defining it as the sum of individuals who self-classify as brown (pardo) and black (preto) in the census. Many scholars and social scientists have also combined the brown and black categories in their studies, using terms such as Afro-descendente, Afro-Brazilian, or negro.

In 2010, the Brazilian Congress passed the Estatuto da Igualdade Racial (Statute of Racial Equality). The law adopts the racial term negro to refer to individuals who self-identify as black and brown according to the IBGE race or color classification. Although evidence suggests that blacks and browns have similar socio-economic profiles and indicators of material well-being compared to whites, some researchers note that it is problematic to collapse pretos and pardos into a collective black category because part of Brazilians who self-identify as pardo are of mixed European and indigenous ancestry, not African. A survey conducted in the early 2000s with a sample of 2,364 people from 102 municipalities showed that if the "brown" category were removed and Brazilians had to choose between "black" or "white", the population would appear 68% white and 32% black. In this binary format, 44% of those identifying as brown would choose the white category. According to a 2000 survey held in Rio de Janeiro, the entire self-reported preto population reported to have African ancestry. 86% of the self-reported pardo and 38% of the self-reported white population reported to have African ancestors. It is notable that 14% of the pardos from Rio de Janeiro said they have no African ancestors. This percentage may be even higher in Northern Brazil, where there was a greater ethnic contribution from Amerindian populations.

The fusion of pretos and pardos into negros tends to be validated by the mainstream media, official bodies such as the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), ministries, government departments, and international organizations. However, not all people who identify as pardos are of African descent, especially in Northern Brazil, and identify with Blackness. Sociologist Demétrio Magnoli considers classifying all pretos and pardos as Blacks as an assault on the racial vision of Brazilians. Sociologist Simon Schwartzman points out that to "substitute negro for preto, suppressing the pardo alternative would mean to impose unto Brazil a vision of the racial issue as a dichotomy, similar to that of the United States, which would not be true." Members of the black movement in Brazil seek to define their racial identity in political and socioeconomic terms; pardos are grouped with blacks based on shared realities of racial discrimination rather than merely as a result of having "a drop of black blood." Research by Hasenbalg and Silva (1983) indicates that sociological racism is the primary factor uniting blacks and pardos.

Two IBGE surveys, the 1976 National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) and the July 1998 Monthly Employment Survey (PME), have been analyzed to assess how Brazilians think of themselves in racial terms. The results of these surveys show that a great number of racial terms are in use in Brazil, but most of these terms are used by small numbers of people. Edward Telles notes that 95% of the population used only six different terms (branco, moreno, pardo, moreno-claro, preto and negro). Petruccelli shows that the seven most common responses (the above plus amarela) sum up 97% of responses, and the 10 most common (the previous plus mulata, clara, and morena-escura – dark brunette) make 99%. Racial classifications in Brazil are based primarily on skin color and on other physical characteristics such as facial features, hair texture, etc. This is a poor scientific indication of ancestry, because only a few genes are responsible for someone's skin color: a person who is considered White may have more African ancestry than a person who is considered Black, and vice versa. But, as race is a social construct, these classifications relate to how people are perceived and perceive themselves in society. In Brazil, class and economic status also affect how individuals are perceived.