Blacks of the Rosary. ELIZABETH W. KIDDY: Penn State University Press, 2005.

Abstract

Combining detailed archival research with oral history, Elizabeth W. Kiddy's Blacks of the Rosary tells the story of self-identified "black" (preto) lay religious brotherhoods in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais from the early colonial period to the present. Through this broad temporal lens, Kiddy aims to show how brotherhoods dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks, and the present-day Afro-Brazilian congados or ritual communities that continue their traditions, provided a flexible institutional space for people of African descent to build long-lasting forms of community and identity, despite the asymmetries of power they faced during and after slavery.