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Plan to launch Brazil’s only slave memoir, revisit dark past

In this June 9, 2015 photo, a man descends steps while hauling a bag at, "Pedra do Sal" or "Rock of Salt", a site where slaves carved steps to climb a hill with heavy loads of salt, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazil had more slaves than any other nation in the Americas, yet many experts say the nation has never truly acknowledged what 4 million Africans suffered through before, and after they landed on the nation's shores. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this June 9, 2015 photo, a man descends steps while hauling a bag at, "Pedra do Sal" or "Rock of Salt", a site where slaves carved steps to climb a hill with heavy loads of salt, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazil had more slaves than any other nation in the Americas, yet many experts say the nation has never truly acknowledged what 4 million Africans suffered through before, and after they landed on the nation's shores. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

By Associated Press 6 min read

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Taken from Africa and sold into slavery in Brazil, Mahommah Baquaqua’s tale of escape to freedom in New York is the only known story of its kind, an in-depth, firsthand account of slavery in the South America country.

But few in Brazil are aware of Baquaqua’s biography which, 160 years after it was written, is being published in Portuguese for the first time as momentum builds for the country to examine its complex racial past.

A truth commission was established this year to investigate Brazil’s 350-year period of slavery. Next year, tourists coming for the Olympic Games will be able to walk a pathway marking historical sites such as a mass grave for slaves who died en route from Africa.

A website about Baquaqua’s life will launch next month; work on a children’s book is under way; and school teachers in a northeastern state are being coached on how to incorporate him into their lessons.

“We are seeing a lot of interest from the general public to know about this story,” said Bruno Veras, one of the researchers and translators working to bring Baquaqua’s biography to a Brazilian audience.