The Challenges of the First Black Political Party in Brazil: Seeking Alliances in Unsympathetic Territory

Abstract

This paper examines the rapprochement between the first black political party in Brazil – Brazilian Black Front - and the fascist party - Brazilian Integralist Action - as a microcosm to assess the challenges faced by Afro-Brazilians in the initial stages of black political activism in the changing Brazilian political atmosphere in the 1930s. The mutual opposition to European immigration, the authoritarian inclinations in the leadership of both parties, and the failure of the other side of the political spectrum, led by the Communist Party, to address race, are the three suggested explanations to explain such political collaboration. This study demonstrates that the first Brazilian black political party faced a twofold challenge. At same time that it attempted to find its own political voice, it needed to assess the best alternatives to seek political coalitions in a setting still dominated by whites who were reluctant to acknowledge racial inequalities in Brazilian society.