Around 1921 Brazil heard the news that a group of African-Americans intended to emigrate to this country to found a colony in the Mato Grosso state. This fact provoked great reactions in the Chamber of Deputies, in the press and on the streets and also caused a big discussion about this emigration's convenience, having the idea - now totally spread - that in Brazil there was no racial prejudice. Accompanying the debate that followed, this article intends to point out the inner parts of the racial democracy idea during the post-war period, from whitening ideology ideas to equality versions, which aspired to a racial democracy.
immigration; African-americans; racial democracy; racial prejudice