In this powerful, vibrant biography, award-winning creator Duncan Tonatiuh sheds light on the legacy of a legendary Capoeira player, Mestre Bimba, who resisted racial oppression through art and turned a marginalized practice into a global phenomenon A meia lua whooshed in the air.
From an award-winning author-illustrator, Game of Freedom is a stirring celebration of solidarity and resistance through art..
In 2014, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named Capoeira an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a distinction awarded because of the game\'s promotion of social integration and the memory it holds of the struggle against historical oppression.
Duncan Tonatiuh\'s lyrical prose and beloved illustration style, inspired by pre-Columbian codices, tell the story of arguably the greatest capoeirista of all time, who fought to turn a misunderstood, persecuted Afro-Brazilian activity into a celebrated art practiced by millions around the world.
But in the early 1920s in the city of Salvador, a man called Bimba would advocate for capoeira, and those who practiced it, to be treated with dignity and the respect it deserved.
Wealthy, lighter-skinned society feared and looked down on capoeira, seeing it as a Game for malandros --what people in power called the poor Black communities they disdained.
In 1890, two years after Brazil officially abolished slavery, the Game was outlawed.
Although it is debated when and where capoeira--an art form that blends martial arts, dance, acrobatics, music, and spirituality--originated exactly, one thing is certain: in the early 20th century, Brazil was the only country in the world where Capoeira was played, and it was mainly practiced by people of African descent.
Bimba wanted to play, too.
Two young men were playing Capoeira in the middle of the roda.
The strike was evaded and followed with an aú.
In this powerful, vibrant biography, award-winning creator Duncan Tonatiuh sheds light on the legacy of a legendary Capoeira player, Mestre Bimba, who resisted racial oppression through art and turned a marginalized practice into a global phenomenon A meia lua whooshed in the air
