Since the 1950s, samba schools in Rio de Janeiro, and in other major cities more recently, have succeeded in portraying Afro-Brazilian history in their parades (Araujo, op. cit.). In fact, themes related to slavery, life in Africa before slavery and life on the outskirts of Rio during the post-emancipation period are the most prevalent topics in Rio de Janeiro's Carnival. During the long period in which the school curriculum failed to cover such content, samba schools filled the gap by portraying black people in a positive light.  
Blacks from different regions of Brazil started to organize in non-official political organizations dedicated to discussing racism and discrimination. During the late 1960s, groups of black youngsters found, in soul music dance halls, a place to express their culture and to imitate the Black Power movement  
and culture of the United States of America, combining foreign rhythms and songs with hairstyle and clothes. In Brazil, the movement was influential mainly in the largest cities. In Rio de Janeiro, it was called 'Black Rio' and, in São Paulo, baile charme. Many Afro-Brazilian activists now in their fifties and sixties would relate their experience in racial identification to this musical movement (Oliveira, 2015, pp. 78-93). J. Michael Turner noticed the changes when studying Afro-Brazilian university students:  
By 1976, Afros as worn in Brazil (hennaed red and of large circumference) were more noticeable than they had been in the United States, where by the mid-1970s the style had become less popular and less of a political and cultural statement. African clothing, such as dashikis and headties, were fashionable among Afro-Brazilian students, and there was and continues to be much serious discussion concerning the desirability of using the word preto in substitution for negro (Turner, 1985, p. 78).