African Studies

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Carlos Moore and Abdias do Nascimento are both prominent scholars and activists. Moore is an ethnologist and political scientist with two doctorates from the prestigious University of Paris, France. He was banished from his native country Cuba for 30 years. Nascimento is a prominent Afro- Brazilian scholar and artist. He is considered to be a historical leader of the Black Movement in Brazil. Their work had an enormous contribution to the societies of Brazil and Cuba. They worked hard and often sacrificing their freedom hoping to put an end to racial discrimination in their countries of origin in South America. They spend much of their adult lives fighting for racial justice in their native countries.

Carlos Moore was born in 1942 in Cuba. In 1958 at the peak of the civil war between Castro and dictator Batista 15-year-old Moore moved along with his family to U.S hoping to find a better life far away from discrimination and prejudice. In his book Pichon: Race and Revolution in Castro's Cuba: A Memoir (2008) Moore mentions: “For me, “America” rhymed with good government, good schools, well-paying jobs, affluence, unlimited opportunities. It symbolized not just power and money but a place where I could finally be treated decently” (Moore 15). After only two years Moore got to meet with Fidel Castro, and realized that his place was in Cuba fighting for freedom from racial oppression. Moore perceived the U.S as an imperialist country which attempted to dominate Cuba. As the revolution started he went back to Cuba and quickly realized that in spite of all of the hopeful things about ending racism the revolutionary leaders were saying, most of it was lies. Even though Castro successfully fought for Cuba’s ind...

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... in the cities resulted in formation of a vibrant, African-based popular culture. African-based dance and music were incorporated into new musical forms. Id didn’t last long till Cuban authorities in several countries banned the black societies from dancing, drumming, or parading publicly on religious holidays. Brazilian authorities outlawed Capoeira in 1890 and African-based religions became a target of police repression (Andrews 122). Admission and participation in the world of the middle class therefore required rejection of African-based culture and being fully devoted to the European modes of civilized and progress, although even total submission didn’t guarantee being free from racial discrimination. Eventually Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay gave rise to black political parties. The Great Depression brought an end to the export boom.

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