Afro Brazil Museum /Photo courtesy of Instagram
According to Travel Noire, the Afro Brasil Museum in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is the tourist site you need to see. The museum is the largest of the African diaspora and boasts an admirable assemblage of art and other items that tell Afro-Brazilian history.
Many may not know that Brazil contains the largest Black population outside of Africa. Over 50% of Brazilians self-identify as having African ancestry. The Afro-Brazilian Museum traces the ethnography of Black Brazilians and tells the stories that most people will never hear.
Besides the substantial population of African-descended citizens, Brazil was also the last country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery in 1888.
The Afro Brazil Museum, called Museu Afro Brasil in Portuguese, has a collection of over 6,000 pieces of art and other antiques that demonstrate the ways that the African handprint was woven into Brazilian culture. There is also an exhibition that includes paintings and sculptures by Afro-Brazilian artists.
However, the museum also offers what could be called gloriously devastating pieces such as torture devices used by slavers and remnants of the slave ships that brought African people across the Atlantic to a gloomy fate. They also display some of the tools enslaved people had to use to enrich their owners through agricultural work.
The museum also has items from the Caribbean and other countries in Latin America with heavy African influence, such as Cuba. Visitors can peruse the diverse aspects of African culture and religion with exhibits on Santeria, Candomblé and Haitian Vodou.
Overall, the Afro Brazil Museum is a place where previously hidden history becomes tangible. The rhythm that tourists flock to Brazil to experience is a direct result of the soul and flavor of the Africans who made it what it is today. Travelers who love learning should definitely put Afro Brazil Museum on their bucket list.