THE HISTORICAL DRAMA OF BLACK IN THE BRAZILIAN THEATER AND THE ANTI-RACISM FIGHT IN THE SCIENTIFIC ARTS (1840-1950)

Abstract

This article will address the presence of the black in the Brazilian performing arts of the Second Empire (1840-1889) - when the theatre became an environment restricted to the ruling classes, blacks were represented in images strongly linked to slavery and the plays were loaded with racist content - to the Post-Estado Novo, when Abdias Nascimento founded the Teatro Experimental do Negro (1944-1968), in order to reverse this situation. It will analyze the historical process of changes in the representations of Afro-Brazilians in the performing arts, emphasizing the efforts made by blacks themselves in opposing stereotypes and recurrent pejorative images in dramaturgical productions. We can characterize these efforts as part of a strategy of anti-racism by the cultural route, in which the Teatro Experimental do Negro was an important exponente.