Summary

At the outset of "Song for Almeyda", Part I, Anninho speaks with a healer named Afranio. The shaman goes by many names; at times he is called “Guerreiro, / the rubber / gatherer [or] / Anando, the rebel spy” (3). Afranio tells the narrator to ask after Zumbi, the military leader, before he inquires after his love, Almeyda. He continues to speak of the new Africa and the tells Anninho that he has found a refuge with the rebels who are reestablishing Palmares. Palmares was an expansive sovereign settlement, comprised of people who escape slavery and indigenous peoples, that survived for the majority of the 1600s. After the Portuguese destroyed the settlement Anninho, who was born free, was separated from his love, Almeyda. In the caves and dense jungle in the hills, the resistance movement continues to fight for sovereignty.

Afranio has a vision of...