ABSTRACT
In 1884, Ceará would be the first province to end slavery in Brazil. Slavery would end nationally in Brazil, in only 1888. Yet there was a virtual erasure of the history of people of African ancestry and a minimization of the history of slavery in Ceará. This chapter argues for an Afro-diasporic understanding of Ceará. It argues for a perspective that recognizes that within the multi-ethnic matrix exists a history in which people of African ancestry have played a significant role in the development of the culture and region. Also in the article, there is a discussion of a legacy of the denial of the African dimensions that reflects a stigma rooted in anti-Blackness that was perpetuated by earlier generations of intellectuals from the region in particular.
