Slave Settlements Winning Rights in Brazil Luiz Pinto was seemingly everywhere on the patio of his family's hillside home as diners tucked away the last of their pork and beans and a band sent the rumble of a samba beat bouncing across the unfinished cement floor. Pinto navigated the tight spaces between tables and beamed a welcome to guests before rehearsing dance steps with an agility that belied his 70 years. To Pinto and his family, this was much more than a party. They were trying to save the grouping of brick houses and shacks nestled in the lush foliage of Brazil's coastal rainforest where they and their ancestors have lived for more than century, but never legally owned. The family first arrived as escaped slaves hiding out in a nearby cave. Since then, the surrounding area has become one of the city's most exclusive, and governments and neighbors have relentlessly clamored for the eviction of the community known as Sacopa. For Pinto's family the samba fundraiser was a way to resist, and to fight for title to their homes. "My grandparents were running away when they came here; they didn't trust society out there," said Pinto. They stayed, and this was passed down through the generations. This place is my life, my peace of mind, my identity. I was born here, and I will die here. His battle is echoed across Brazil, in hundreds of other "quilombos," which are communities founded by escaped slaves or their descendents. At the same time, efforts are mounting to promote black rights in a society with the world's second biggest population of African descent. Only Nigeria's is bigger. After generations denying the existence of racism, the federal government is promoting the country's black heritage in schools and social programs, and a statute passed in 2010 forbids racial discrimination while trying to shrink race-based gaps in wealth and opportunity. A university affirmative action program approved by President Dilma Rousseff this year is expected to grow the number of black students from 8,700 to about 56,000 in the next four years. Despite such progress, in April, the city of Rio de Janeiro blocked Sacopa from holding its regular samba fundraisers because neighbors had complained about the noise. This past month, the City Council handed Sacopa a victory by approving designation of their plot as an area of "special cultural interest," overturning the mayor's veto, and allowing the traditional gatherings to resume - helping the community raise money to pay lawyers. Brazil is the only country that legally guarantees such communities a right to land and related benefits. However, that doesn't mean the right goes unchallenged, or that the process of winning a title is easy. Bureaucracy, land conflicts and paltry government resources have meant long waits and uncertainty. "This is a huge advance; it all happened in a few years," said Jan French, a professor of anthropology at the University of Richmond who has studied quilombos in Brazil. There are movements and people who struggled to make it happen, but also the Brazilian government has dedicated itself to making this happen. The federal government has recognized 1,983 quilombos so far; another approximately 1,500 are still awaiting certification.