Brazil Acknowledged History of Slavery in the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony
Brazil acknowledged its history of slavery in Friday's opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
During an interpretive dance meant to convey the country's history, Brazil showed slaves being brought across the Atlantic in shackles and working on giant hamster wheels, Fusion reports. The wheels represented the sugar plantation.
"Of the 9.5 million people captured in Africa and brought to the New World between the 16th and 19th century, nearly 4 million landed in Rio, 10 times more than all those sent to the United States," the Guardian reported. Brazil was also the last country in the Americas to outlaw slavery — they waited until 1888.