A plan to construct a museum has won international support, but attracted neither funding nor powerful domestic politicians to tout it
Giovanni Harvey began to buy property in the port district of Rio de Janeiro. The area was dilapidated and controlled by drug-traffickers; he would wear a tucked-in shirt and sandals . But Rio aspired to host the World Cup and the Olympics, and the area was due to be gentrified. To Mr Harvey, a successful black businessman who founded Brazil’s first incubator for Afro-Brazilian entrepreneurs and served as national secretary for racial equality, the purchase was “purely an investment”.
These days the wharf is ridden with graffiti and trash. Other relevant sites are in even sorrier states—but then, so is much of Rio. For some, commemorating slavery is a vital part of addressing contemporary injustices. For others, it is a distraction.Between 1525 and 1866 more than 12m slaves were shipped across the Atlantic to European colonies in the Americas. Around half a million died on the way to Brazil; of the 4.
In the 1970s Brazil’s civil-rights movement started to question the idea of racial equality. It gradually brought about change. During the presidency of Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva , a law instructed schools to teach Afro-Brazilian history. Steps were taken to boost black education and alleviate poverty; descendants of escaped slaves living on informal settlements calledgained land rights.
Others insist that the awful history of slavery must be remembered alongside uplifting narratives. “It’s more than just a reference point, it’s the defining factor in the construction of Brazilian identity,” thinks Ms Lima. Ignorance, they say, only makes this task more urgent. When vestiges of the Valongo wharf began to emerge in 2011, Mayor Paes gleefully announced that Rio had found its “Roman ruins”. Newly enlightened, Mr Harvey protested. “This is our Maison des Esclaves,” he said.
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