The quilombola [maroon] community of Bracuí in Brazil has preserved the history of the African slave trade on their lands for nearly two centuries through oral storytelling. This includes the story of the intentional sinking of the unlawful slaving ship Camargo by its captain, Nathaniel Gordon of the United States. This narrative, documented by the discovery of written sources, forms one of the fundamental bases of the community’s past, identity, and struggle for rights. Currently, a group of archaeologists and historians, in partnership with the quilombola community, is conducting a research project at the site and exploring new documentary sources while supporting community-led tourism and public history initiatives.

Martha Abreu is a professor of history at Fluminense Federal University, Brazil whose work focuses on the history of Brazil and the African diaspora in the Americas. She has published numerous books and articles on popular culture, black music, cultural heritage, post-abolition societies, memory of slavery and race relations. She has also co-produced several documentary films, exhibitions, and memory sites on the public history of slavery.

Currently, she is cultural director and administrative vice president of AfrOrigens, a multinational project to recover shipwrecked slave ships and disseminate evidence of enslavement as a crime against humanity. She is also co-creator and manager of a multi-site public history project, "Present Pasts: The Memory of Slavery in Brazil"; and co-curator of the Museum of the Territory of Little Africa, Rio de Janeiro for the Museum of Afro-Brazilian History and Culture (MUHCAB).

This lecture is sponsored by the Aiton Lecture Committee.