Zumbi: The last king of Palmares - Marc Adam Hertzman & Flavio dos Santos Gomes
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In the 1600s, an expansive autonomous settlement called Palmares reached its height in Brazil. It was founded and led by people escaping from slavery, also called maroons. It was one of the world’s largest maroon communities, its population reaching beyond 10,000— and its citizens were at constant war with colonial forces. Marc Adam Hertzman & Flavio dos Santos Gomes tell the story of Palmares.
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Marc Adam Hertzman, Flavio dos Santos Gomes
- Director Mateus Moretto
- Narrator Addison Anderson
- Storyboard Artist Luciano do Amaral
- Animator Luciano do Amaral, Andressa Taucei
- Art Director Mateus Moretto, Luciano do Amaral
- Music Stephen LaRosa
- Sound Designer Stephen LaRosa
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Senior Producer Anna Bechtol
- Associate Producer Sazia Afrin
- Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal, Cella Wright
- Script Editor Alex Gendler
- Fact-Checker Jennifer Nam
Additional Resources for you to Explore
Though some palmarinos were born in Palmares, many came from different parts of Africa. More than 40% of the men, women, and children enslaved in Africa and taken to the Americas arrived in Brazil. The Slave Voyages Database provides a rich set of maps, data, and search features to learn more about the slave trade.
Though one of the largest and longest-lasting, Palmares was hardly the only fugitive-slave community in Brazil or the Americas. Everywhere that whites enslaved them, Blacks resisted with actions that ranged from small daily forms of resistance (working slowly or breaking equipment) to flight and warfare. You can learn more about individuals who ran away using a new archive of runaway slave advertisements that help “personalize history, providing important clues about the lives of slaves, their efforts at self-emancipation, and the viewpoints of their masters.”
While flight is crucial for understanding fugitive settlements and other well-known forms of slave resistance, such as those led by Harriet Tubman and other facilitators of the Underground Railroad, it is also important to bear in mind that Palmares and many other maroon communities existed in a near-constant state of war with armies determined to destroy them. In other settings, enslaved people took up arms to fight for their freedom. In 1760 in Jamaica, 1,500 or more men and women launched a massive rebellions against the British. Historian Vincent Brown has created an interactive website to learn more about their remarkable story. Another historian, Sarah Roth, built a rich site for another iconic slave rebellion, Nat Turner’s famous 1831 uprising.
Today in Brazil, Zumbi is a national hero, a standing that has also made him the target of vicious attacks meant to undermine the advance of Black social movements.
Though one of the largest and longest-lasting, Palmares was hardly the only fugitive-slave community in Brazil or the Americas. Everywhere that whites enslaved them, Blacks resisted with actions that ranged from small daily forms of resistance (working slowly or breaking equipment) to flight and warfare. You can learn more about individuals who ran away using a new archive of runaway slave advertisements that help “personalize history, providing important clues about the lives of slaves, their efforts at self-emancipation, and the viewpoints of their masters.”
While flight is crucial for understanding fugitive settlements and other well-known forms of slave resistance, such as those led by Harriet Tubman and other facilitators of the Underground Railroad, it is also important to bear in mind that Palmares and many other maroon communities existed in a near-constant state of war with armies determined to destroy them. In other settings, enslaved people took up arms to fight for their freedom. In 1760 in Jamaica, 1,500 or more men and women launched a massive rebellions against the British. Historian Vincent Brown has created an interactive website to learn more about their remarkable story. Another historian, Sarah Roth, built a rich site for another iconic slave rebellion, Nat Turner’s famous 1831 uprising.
Today in Brazil, Zumbi is a national hero, a standing that has also made him the target of vicious attacks meant to undermine the advance of Black social movements.
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Create and share a new lesson based on this one.
Meet The Creators
- Educator Marc Adam Hertzman, Flavio dos Santos Gomes
- Director Mateus Moretto
- Narrator Addison Anderson
- Storyboard Artist Luciano do Amaral
- Animator Luciano do Amaral, Andressa Taucei
- Art Director Mateus Moretto, Luciano do Amaral
- Music Stephen LaRosa
- Sound Designer Stephen LaRosa
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Senior Producer Anna Bechtol
- Associate Producer Sazia Afrin
- Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal, Cella Wright
- Script Editor Alex Gendler
- Fact-Checker Jennifer Nam
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