The Valongo region is where Gamboa and the Port Area neighborhoods are located in Rio de Janeiro city. The region was the former slave market in the XVII century and it was one of the largest in the Americas. By XIX century, rapid development of the port zone transformed the region into an important commercial port where the majority of goods entered and were exported. By the middle of the XX century the region decayed and its ports’ infrastructure became obsolete.
After decades of abandonment haphazard development, and rampant property speculation, many of the slave market edifices are but a shadow of their former selves. Nonetheless, many cultural heritage sites have been preserved even if well behind the expectations and desires of local community members to preserve the areas’ history. With the rapid pace of urban development in Brasil, and around the world, it is vitally important to protect and restore archaeological sites that are crucial to the telling of African heritage in Brasil.
The Little Africa experience is developed by Rio Encantos tour agency in a connection with the research institute and slave cemetery of the New Blacks (IPN) and the African Heritage Circuit, visiting the archaeological sites where the largest Transatlantic Slavery Traffic took place in the old historic port area, in Rio de Janeiro.
Professor Julio Cesar Medeiros, PhD. (above picture) wrote the book “À Flor da Terra”, a book about the largest slave cemetery in the Americas. The cemetery of the “New Blacks” is a place where the bodies of enslaved Africans were discarded if they died shortly after their arrival in Brasil, during the XIX century. It is one of its kind and largely documented by the book of obituaries from Santa Rita church in the XIX century. The Valongo Wharf was recognized, in July 2017, by UNESCO as World heritage site for the preservation of African diaspora memory.
On May 1, 2017. I worked as interpreter of professor Julio to a big group of International scholars from the SIT Study Abroad program, led by Prof. Bill Calhoun. It was an honor to mediate the talk and help to connect individuals who seek for knowledgeable experiences and meaningful connections to take on their lives.
P.S.: A campaign is being drafted to raise funds for the book translation. At this moment the challenge is to recruit and manage people to work on the campaign, since the maintenance of the institute itself is a priority.
Related work: Interpreting for The Center of Reproductive Rights