Witness History Uncovering a lost burial ground in Rio
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May 13, 2026 Merced Guimarães dos Anjos, an eyewitness and founder of the New Blacks Research and Memory Institute, discovered an enslaved people’s burial ground beneath her 1866 Rio home. She recounts finding bones during renovations. The conversation covers the cemetery’s scale, the human cost of the transatlantic trade, creating a research centre, public remembrance and struggles with authorities and funding.
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Home Renovation Revealed Human Remains
- Merced Guimarães dos Anjos discovered human bones while renovating her 1866 house in Rio when workers dug foundation holes.
- She found adult and child dental arches and feared a serial killer until a neighbor identified a cemetery beneath the property.
New Blacks Cemetery Hidden Under Homes
- The burial ditch under Merced's house was part of the New Blacks Cemetery used from late 1700s to ~1830 for newly enslaved Africans.
- It contained tens of thousands of bodies including babies, pregnant women, and people from Angola, Congo, Mozambique and Ivory Coast.
Rio As A Major Slave Port
- Brazil received about 4.8 million enslaved people, and Rio was once the largest slave port, with roughly one million arriving by 1831 at Valongo Wharf.
- Many captives died aboard ships or shortly after landing from malnutrition and diseases like smallpox and dysentery.