ABSTRACT
In the Caribbean and Latin America the European colonizers left a legacy of multiracialism, in spite of early attempts to enforce racial endogamy, i.e., the prohibition of marriage outside the same racial category. Between a "pure" black and a very light mulatto there are numerous gradations, as reflected in the scores of racial labels in common Brazilian usage. The question of accurate color terminology is especially difficult when discussing Brazil. Discussion about Brazilian race relations was therefore invariably based on "soft" data. History and anthropology were the two main intellectual approaches used. For anyone who has lived in Brazil, there can be little doubt that awareness of racial categories is a staple of everyday life. The National Household Survey of 1976 marked the first time the Brazilian government had ever collected and published data on employment and income by race. Militant Afro-Brazilians sought to make their case against the myth of racial democracy in 1988.
