A tiny room that shows a racist past

People looking out of the window of their apartment, in Rio de Janeiro. — ©️2024 The New York Times Company

ANA Beatriz da Silva still remembers her first home: a tiny room behind the kitchen of a beachfront apartment in Rio de Janeiro, where her mother worked as a maid.

The room was barely bigger than a closet, hot and stifling, she said, with only a small window for air. Da Silva shared the cramped space with her mother and older brother until she was six.