Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira by Duncan Tonatiuh

In the powerful, vibrant biography Game of Freedom, 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. The strike was evaded and followed with an aú.Two young men were playing capoeira in the middle of the roda. Bimba wanted to play too.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. In 1890, two years after Brazil officially abolished slavery, the game was outlawed. 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 the