Ben Hudson

HST 366

15 November 2017

Racism in the US and Brazil

Racism continues to be an evolving problem that has plagued countries

around the world. Although many countries around the world have experienced

racism, racism can come in different forms within each of these countries. The

countries that will be looked at in this paper are Brazil and the United States of

America. The United States and Brazil share some similarities, but likewise, the two

countries also have their differences when it comes to race relations.

Brazil and the United States share some similarities when it comes to race

relations between black people and white people. One similarity that these two

countries share would be the fact that white people tend to make more money than

black people. Telles put a chart in his book that illustrates the difference of income

between black and white people. The chart reads that white people in Brazil earn a

little over $5000 per year, while black people earn a little under half of what white

people earn.1 In comparison, the chart reads that white people in the United States

earn a little over $20,000 per year, and black people earn fifty-three percent of what

white people earn.2 In both the United States and Brazil, white people earn more

money than black people do. Although Brazil’s wage gap is greater than the wage

gap in the United States, these two countries share the similarity of white people

1 Edward E. Telles, Race in Another America (Princeton University Press, 2004), 115.
2 Telles, Race in Another America, 115.
earning higher wages than black people. In the same way that the United States and

Brazil have their similarities, these two countries also have their differences.

A difference that can be seen between the United States and Brazil’s race

relations is that the United States had a war over slavery and Brazil did not. Both

the U.S. and Brazil abolished slavery, but Brazil abolished slavery peacefully,

whereas the U.S. fought a war. Telles confirms this in his book by writing, “The

transition from slavery also did not involve war or rupture in local values or the

social structure, as it did in the United States.”3 Slavery was fought over between

the north and south during the Civil War, and slavery was abolished in 1864. Brazil

did not abolish slavery until 1888, but Brazil did so peacefully. Also, another

difference between Brazil and the U.S. was that Brazil never had a legal form of

segregation after the abolition of slavery and the U.S. did have legal forms

segregation.4 The U.S. put laws in place to keep black people from gaining equal

status as white people. The laws put in place by white people kept black people

from climbing the social ladder.

Both the U.S. and Brazil have a history of racism that haunts them. Racism is

a problem that still exists today, but not to the extent that it existed during this time

period in history. Brazil and the U.S. share an evil history that will continue to stick

with them; however, these countries need to look to the future and become blind to

skin color. Although these two countries share an evil past, the countries can

resolve everything internally to have a bright and successful future.

3 Telles, Race in Another America, 25.

4 Telles, Race in Another America, 2.