Yet, Afro-Brazilian literature as a genre that recognized the ethnic and cultural origins of the writer did not gain national prominence in Brazil until the 1970s with the revival of Black Consciousness politics known as the Movimento Negro.
However, oral traditions of histories and narratives can be traced back to the 16th century when African slaves were brought across the Atlantic to work in the Portuguese colonies.
Written forms of Afro-Brazilian literature do not appear until the 19th century with publications by writers such as Maria Firmina dos Reis, Cruz e Sousa and Machado de Assis.
Born in São Luiz do Maranhão October 11, 1825, Maria Firmina dos Reis was a mulata woman living in a segregated society.
During the beginning of the 1880s, she creates the first free and coed state school in Maranhão while simultaneously maintaining a constant presence in the local press publishing poetry, fiction and chronicles.
Because of the attitudes regarding the silencing and submission of women in 19th-century Brazilian society, Maria Firmina dos Reis omits her name from the cover of "Úrsula" and writes the pseudonym "Uma Maranhense" (A Maranhese woman).
The group is best known for its annual publication of Cadernos Negros (Black Notebooks), an anthology of poetry, fiction, and essays by Afro-Brazilian writers, artists and intellectuals.
Santos was an important exponent of Afro-Brazilian literature in Brazil in the second half of the 20th century and was a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.