Zumbi of Palmares Executed: Brazil's Last Free Slave Leader Killed
They cut off his head and displayed it publicly — proof, the Portuguese insisted, that Zumbi wasn't immortal. He'd spent decades leading Quilombo dos Palmares, a self-governing fugitive settlement of 30,000 formerly enslaved people deep in Brazil's interior. Domingos Jorge Velho's forces finally caught him November 20, 1695. But killing Zumbi didn't kill what he'd built. Brazil now observes November 20th as Black Consciousness Day. The man they executed to prove he was mortal became the face of an entire movement.
November 20, 1695
331 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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