ABSTRACT
Afro-Brazilian youth have continually identified with the black diaspora and, as a result, have reinvigorated Afro-Brazilian culture with positive affirmations of “blackness.” As black activists such as Abdias do Nascimento were forced to go abroad because of the 1964 political coup, by 1968, once again as in 1937, political activity began to be heavily censored in the press. Activists such as Nascimento and Leila Gonzalez had emerged during the last phase of the military dictatorship. In the elections of November 1982, he ran for a full-time position in the Chamber of Deputies, but only obtained a substitute position. Many Brazilian artists who were influenced by artists such as James Brown reinterpreted this music in Portuguese and in their own way, as was the case with the singer and actor Toni Tornado. The black soul and reggae movements marked the first time that Afro-Brazilians of the lower urban classes could develop their identity from an unabashed Afro-diasporic perspective.
