Negros nas cidades brasileiras (1890–1950)

This Brazilian Portuguese edited volume on Brazilians of African descent is a welcome addition to studies on blackness, urbanization, and the socioeconomic and cultural development of Latin American cities. This collection, stemming from a seminar organized by the editors in 2015, provides an opportunity to reflect on the production and occupation of urban space as a zone of racial inequality and segregation during a significant historical juncture. The 1890–1950 time frame represents a critical period in the making of modern Brazil's socioeconomic and cultural landscape. A year after the republic's declaration and two years after the abolition of slavery, enslaved people of African descent became emancipated. Their full citizenship rights, however, remained unrecognized for decades to come. Many of these newly enfranchised yet politically disempowered Brazilians migrated to cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, which were undergoing dramatic transformations in their built environments and political processes. The...