Brazilians of African Descent

Abstract

This research paper examines the problematic areas of inequality and racism within Brazil. It focuses on the myth of a racial democracy, in Brazil closely focusing on the primary causes of disenfranchisement among Afro-Brazilians: Education, Race and Political Power. This research paper will reveal the influences of Portuguese colonization of the 1500s, and how their influence created the formation of the racial hierarchy within Brazilian life and culture today. It will also offer correlations between the concept of race and economic success. This research paper will ultimately show how Afro-Brazilians have been trapped in a cycle of poverty and persecution that continues to leave them marginalized within their country with little to no access to a proper education and political power.