Black Brazilians in remote 'quilombo' hamlets stand up to be counted

FILE PHOTO: Census taker Aissa Freitas (R), 22, interviews Elisabete Encarnacao da Silva, 55, at Quilombo Praia Grande, Ilha de Mare, Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil August 17, 2022. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

SALVADOR, Brazil (Reuters) - For the first time in its 132-year history, the Brazilian census now underway includes a question counting members of the "quilombo" communities founded by runaway slaves.

On Ilha de Mare, an island with several quilombos off the coast of Salvador, in northeast Brazil, this chance to be counted is one step in a political transformation for which local organizers have long been fighting.