Entitled “The Great Crossing: Return, Reunion, Recognition, Reparation”, the voyage will depart from the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on December 5, bound for Luanda, explained Professor Dagoberto José Fonseca, from the Faculty of Sciences and Letters at São Paulo State University in Araraquara (FCLAr/UNESP), and the project’s coordinator.
The journey will include seven days of travel to Angola, seven days in the country, and seven days for the return, summarized the professor, emphasizing that Brazil still needs to fully know and acknowledge its ancestors.
“We need to make the journey back across the Atlantic Ocean to learn the history made by our people and to reclaim those who were thrown into the ocean,” he said, noting that approximately 2.5 million people were cast into the Atlantic between the 16th and 19th centuries, just among those who came from Angola to Brazil.
In addition to this number, it is estimated that five million Africans arrived in Brazil during the Portuguese colonial period.
“We are the same family, separated by a history of trafficking, a history of enslavement, and of Portuguese colonialism. We are the same family, divided by the Atlantic and separated by a cruel history — slavery — and this transatlantic trade in people subjected to slavery,” said the professor.
In Angola, the two thousand Brazilians will carry out research and cultural tourism activities, with a particular focus on afrotourism, aimed at recovering and revisiting African history at various locations across the country.
This has never happened before — it is unprecedented in human history, this journey back across the Atlantic with such a large group of people,” Dagoberto José Fonseca emphasized.
The project includes visits to historical and symbolic sites such as the Museum of Slavery, Fort São Basílio, and the former Kingdom of Kongo, promoting reflection on memory and African cultural heritage.
The itinerary will also feature several cultural and institutional activities, including a Brazil-Angola literary festival and an arts and culture festival. The group will meet with writers, and visit universities, hospitals, maternity wards, and cultural centers such as Talapona and the Centro de Belas, as well as the Benfica Handicraft Fair.
Meetings with businesspeople from both countries are also scheduled, along with visits to institutions such as the Brazilian Embassy and Consulate in Angola, the Guimarães Rosa Institute, and the Union of Angolan Writers.
The entire trip will be funded by Brazil, through public and private institutions, and once we arrive in Angola, the Angolan state will provide all necessary support in terms of transport within the country, personal protection, security, accommodation, and other associated costs,” said Fonseca, adding that the initiative is part of a “logic of reparation,” and that “support from Portugal would be very welcome.”
The journey, which also marks the 50th anniversary of Angola’s independence, will offer training courses focused on five strategic areas: education, health, social and human assistance, afrotourism, and business development.
Additionally, a “Black Parliamentary Front” of Brazilian deputies will be formed to meet with members of Angola’s National Assembly, Dagoberto José Fonseca concluded.
Platform with Lusa
