THE TRAJECTORY OF THE BLACK POPULATION IN BRAZILIAN EDUCATION: A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Abstract

This article aims to analyze, from a historical and theoretical perspective, the trajectory of the Black population in Brazilian education, from the period of slavery onward, highlighting the struggles for access, permanence, and equality within the educational system. The study constitutes a theoretical excerpt from a Master’s dissertation in Education and is grounded in qualitative research of a theoretical and bibliographic nature. The analysis of the literature revealed that, since the colonial period, education has been permeated by power relations anchored in the idea of race as a structuring principle of society, operating the marginalization and devaluation of African and Afro-Brazilian knowledge and cultures. Even after the abolition of slavery, such inequalities were re-signified and maintained through Eurocentric curricula, exclusionary institutional practices, and the persistence of the coloniality of power, knowledge, and being. Throughout the twentieth century, the actions of Black movements, such as the Brazilian Black Front (Frente Negra Brasileira), highlighted the centrality of education as a space of resistance and political struggle. In the twenty-first century, the enactment of Laws No. 10,639/2003 and No. 11,645/2008 represented significant advances in confronting racism in the educational field; however, their effective implementation still faces challenges related to teacher education, institutional resistance, and the persistence of structural racism. It is concluded that Brazilian education, although historically marked by the reproduction of racial inequalities, also constitutes a strategic space for the construction of anti-racist educational practices committed to social justice and the recognition of ethnic-racial diversity.