Brazilian Americans (
Portuguese: brasileiros americanos or americanos de origem brasileira) are Americans who are of full or partial
Brazilian ancestry. The
Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates the Brazilian American population to be 1,905,000, the largest of any Brazilian diaspora.[2] The largest wave of Brazilian migration to the United States occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a response to
hyperinflation in Brazil. Even after
inflation stabilized in 1994, Brazilian immigration continued as Brazilians left in search of higher wages in the United States.[3][4]
Population and classification
In 2020, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimated the number of Brazilian Americans to be 1,775,000, 0.53% of the US population at the time.[2] However, the 2019
United States Census BureauAmerican Community Survey estimated that there were 499,272 Americans who would report Brazilian ancestry.[5] This discrepancy can be attributed to the American Community Survey reporting on
ancestry, not
nationality, since many Brazilians, by national origin, are not ancestrally- or
ethnically (native)-Brazilian; families with varying degrees of native ancestry and mixed bloodlines (mestiços) are not uncommon, though.[6]
Despite Portugal being a part of the
Iberian Peninsula, and the Portuguese language being considered a
romance language and a
Latin-based language, like Spanish (as well as the country’s significant role in the
history of Spain), Brazilians are not considered a “
Hispanic” ethnic group, largely due to Brazil’s colonial history as a
Lusophone (
Portuguese-speaking) nation and not a
Hispanophone, or
Spanish-speaking, one. As such, their populations may or may not accept the term “Latino”, let alone “Hispanic”. This notion was reflected in the
1980 United States census, where only 18% of Brazilian Americans considered themselves “Hispanic”.[7]
In 1976, the U.S.
Congress passed the Hispanic-American Voting Rights Act which mandated the collection and analysis of data on Hispanic Americans. The legislation describes Hispanic Americans as being “Americans who identify themselves as being of Spanish-speaking background and trace their origin or descent from
Cuba,
Central America,
México,
Puerto Rico and
South America, and other Spanish-speaking countries.” This includes 20 Spanish-speaking nations from
Latin America, as well as European
Spain, but not
Portugal or
Brazil.[7][8]
Whether or not Brazilians are
Latino is controversial among Brazilian Americans. Some attribute this to the large cultural and linguistic divide between
Spanish-speaking Latin America and Portuguese-speaking
Brazil.[6] While the official
United States census category of “Latino” includes “persons of
South American origin”, it does not explicitly include Brazilians, nor does it mention persons of the
English-speaking nations
Belize and
Guyana, the
Francophone territories of
French Guiana and
Haiti, or
Suriname, which has a
Dutchlingua franca.[9] Other U.S. government agencies, such as the
Small Business Administration and the
Department of Transportation, specifically include Brazilians within their definition of Latino for purposes of awarding minority preferences by defining Latino Americans to include persons of South American ancestry or persons who have Portuguese cultural roots.[10][11]
History
People from Brazil (from historical
João Pessoa and
Recife, under Dutch control in
Northeast Brazil -
Paraíba and
Pernambuco states) are recorded among the Refugees and Settlers that arrived in
New Netherland in what is now
New York City in the 17th century among the Dutch West India Company settlers. The first arrivals of Brazilian emigres were formally recorded in the 1940s. Previously, Brazilians were not identified separately from other South Americans. Of approximately 234,761 South American emigres arrived in the United States between 1820 and 1960, at least some of them were Brazilian. The
1960 United States census report recorded 27,885 Americans of Brazilian ancestry.[12]
From 1960 until the mid-1980s, between 1,500 and 2,300 Brazilian immigrants arrived in the United States each year. During the mid-1980s, economic crisis struck Brazil. As a result, between 1986 and 1990 approximately 1.4 million Brazilians emigrated to other parts of the world. It was not until this time that Brazilian emigration reached significant levels. Thus, between 1987 and 1991, an estimated 20,800 Brazilians arrived in the United States. A significant number of them, 8,133 Brazilians, arrived in 1991. The 1990 U.S. Census Bureau recorded that there are about 60,000 Brazilians living in the United States. However, other sources indicate that there are nearly 100,000 Brazilians living in the
New York City metropolitan area (including
Northern New Jersey) alone, in addition to sizable Brazilian communities in
Atlanta,
Boston,
Philadelphia,
Washington, D.C.,
Los Angeles,
Miami,
Orlando,
Houston, and
Phoenix.[12]
There are many hypotheses regarding the formation of Brazilian migration to the United States. Ana Cristina Martes, a professor of sociology at Fundação Getúlio Vargas Brazil, helped explain the first few migratory trips to the U.S. which took place in Boston. She noticed a series of six events that could have led the cycle of migration:
During World War II, American engineers from the Boston area traveled to
Governador Valadares to work on the region's mineral extraction and railroad. When they came back to the States, many of them brought their Brazilian domestic employees.
After the war, some Bostonians strengthen the relationship with Valadares [by coming back on more trips for more precious stones].
In the 1960s, newspapers from Rio [De Janeiro] and São Paulo published a number of ads offering jobs to Brazilian women interested in working as maids in Boston.
[During the same time period, a business man from Massachusetts] hired twenty soccer players from Belo Horizonte to form a soccer team. Many of them stayed permanently and helped their family join them in the States.
At the end of the decade, a group of more than ten young people from Governador Valadares decided to come to the States to spend more time on ‘an adventurous trip…in a country of their dreams’. They also settled permanently and helped their families join them.
Several Brazilians came to study in Boston and decided not to return to Brazil.[13]
Before the 1960s there was insignificant movement from Brazil to the United States. It was between the 1960s through 1980s that some Brazilians went to the United States as tourists to visit places such as Disney World, New York and other tourist destinations. Brazilians traveled during that time because the country was growing at an average 7% annually and projecting 4% annual increase in GDP per capita.[14] After the 1980s, the peak of the economic cycle quickly dropped to a long lasting through. World Bank data shows that the Brazilian GDP dipped to 1287.6 (USD per capita) at its lowest point in 1985.[15] This economic strife was a major factor pushing Brazilians to move elsewhere.The Brazilian Federal Police reported that in the 1980s about 1.25 million people (1% of the population) emigrated to countries such as the U.S. This was the first time Brazilians emigrated in significant numbers. They wanted to stay in the States until the crisis was over. They also had some work connections and known opportunities in the East Coast, which increased facilitated the move. In 1980, there were 41,000 Brazilians and 82,000 by 1990. Neoclassical Economics Theory explains the beginning flow of migration in 1980 indicating that individuals were rational actors who looked for better opportunities away from home to improve his/her lifestyle. Since the crisis hit the Brazilian middle class hard, many chose to leave to optimize their income, find better jobs, and more stable social conditions by doing marginal benefit analysis.[16]
There was another wave of emigration in 2002 where Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimated that 1.96 million Brazilians had left again as the country continued to lack economic stability.[13] This number reflected another 1% of the Brazilian population 22 years later (“Population, total”). This wave of migration was different from the one in the 1980s. As shown by Martes’ research, migration evolved even more with a creation and better establishment of social networks. When Bostonians first brought back a wave of Brazilian domestic workers, Brazilians would send information to their homes about their experiences and opportunities. This connection is what Douglas Massey defined as Social Capital Theory. Migrants create social ties in the host country facilitating the move at lower cost and creating an incentive to join their community in another country.[17] Legal migrants who had entered the U.S. brought their immediate relatives resulting in an increase of the Brazilian immigrant population.
Lawful Permanent Resident Status
Brazilians obtained the highest number of lawful permanent residence status between 2000 and 2009 and many were eligible to naturalize. During that time, 115,404 Brazilians received permanent status and from 2010 through 2016, already 80,741 persons had received theirs. Still, it seems as if many received status, but if you compare to the total foreign born Brazilian population, the numbers are small. In 2010 the Brazilian foreign born population was 340,000 and only 12,057 (or 4% of) persons obtained legal status. Of the 336,000 foreign born Brazilians in 2014, only 10,246 (or 3%) received permanent status in the same year.[18] Even though few people are obtaining permanent status, there was a noticeable spike previously mentioned between 2000 and 2009. The increase in acceptance was due to two main factors: the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act and economic and political turmoil in Brazil.[19]
The top three classes of admissions for Brazilians obtaining lawful permanent status in the U.S. in 2016 was family-sponsored, employment, and immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Each category of admissions makes up of 4%, 25%, and 68% respectively of the total individuals.[18]
Socioeconomics
Education
The 2000 U.S. census showed that 34.5 percent of Brazilians in the U.S. had completed four or more years of college. There’s a difference between female and male attainment. While 34.7% of men obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher, 45.2% of women obtained one.[20][21] while the corresponding number for the general U.S. population is only 24.4 percent.[22] However, although effectively many Brazilian immigrants in the United States are university educated, most of these immigrants fail to get well-qualified jobs and have to get lower-status jobs because the United States doesn't recognize their qualifications and also because many of them do not speak English.[12]
Second-and third-generation Brazilian Americans tend to have better jobs; they have been educated in the United States, speak English, and have citizenship.[12]
As with wider Brazilian culture, there is set of beliefs related through syncretism that might be described as part of a
Spiritualism–
Animism continuum, that includes:
Spiritism (or Kardecism, a form of spiritualism that originated in France, often confused with other beliefs also called espiritismo, distinguished from them by the term espiritismo [de] mesa branca),
Umbanda (a
syncretic religion mixing African animist beliefs and rituals with Catholicism, Spiritism, and indigenous lore),
Candomblé (a syncretic religion that originated in the Brazilian state of
Bahia and that combines African animist beliefs with elements of Catholicism),[12] and
Santo Daime (created in the state of
Acre in the 1930s by
Mestre Irineu (also known as Raimundo Irineu Serra) it is a syncretic mix of Folk Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritism,
Afro-Brazilian religions and a more recent incorporation of Indigenous American practices and rites). People who profess Spiritism make up 1.3% of the country's population, and those professing
Afro-Brazilian religions make up 0.3% of the country's population.
Politics
Brazilian American voters heavily support the
Democratic Party. A majority of Brazilian Americans voted for the Democratic presidential candidates in the 2016 and 2020 elections by 78 and 71 percent, respectively.[24]
Demographics
Brazilians began immigrating to the United States in large and increasing numbers in the 1980s as a result of worsening economic conditions in Brazil at that time.[21] However, many of the Brazilians who have emigrated to the United States since this decade have been undocumented.[12] More women have immigrated to the United States from Brazil than men, with the 1990 and 2000 U.S. censuses showing there to be ten percent more female than male Brazilian Americans. The top three metropolitan areas by Brazilian population are New York City (72,635),[25]Boston (63,930),[26] and
Miami (43,930).[27]
University of Arizona [28] professor Elaine Rubinstein-Avila notes that Brazilian American newspapers are thriving in Massachusetts communities. The Brazilian Times publishes 36,000 copies per week.[29]
Racial stereotypes and representation in media
In popular use, Brazilian is often mistakenly given racial values, usually non-white and
mixed race, such as
half-caste or
mulatto, in spite of the racial diversity of Brazilian Americans. Brazilians commonly draw ancestry from European, Indigenous populations, and African populations in different proportions; many Brazilians are largely of European ancestry, and some are predominantly of Native Brazilian Indian origin. However, most Brazilians descend at least partially from African origins as Brazil received the largest amount of African slaves and was the last to abolish slavery. Nonetheless, the majority of Brazilians are descended from an admixture of two, three or more origins, referred to as pardos. Paradoxically, it is common for them to be stereotyped as being exclusively non-white due merely to their Latin background of country of origin, regardless of whether their ancestry is European or not. On the other hand, the white Brazilian Americans who are perceived by Americans as "Brazilian" usually possess typical
Mediterranean/
Southern European pigmentation -
olive skin, dark hair, and dark eyes - as most white Brazilian immigrants are and most white Brazilian Americans are; the same situation happens for Portuguese Americans who are perceived by Americans as such, as most Portuguese immigrants are. Because Americans associate Brazilian origin with brown skin, Hollywood typically casts Brazilian Americans with conventionally Mediterranean features as non-Brazilian white.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has a vibrant Brazilian community, mostly settling in the
Northeast section of the city, in communities such as
Oxford Circle,
Summerdale,
Frankford,
Juniata Park,
Lawndale,
Fox Chase, and
Rhawnhurst. Many of the Brazilian residents started to come to Philadelphia during the early 2000s, opening restaurants, boutiques, supermarkets, and other stores along Bustleton, Castor, and Cottman Avenues.
Chicago, Illinois' Brazilian population began with the migration of
PortugueseSephardi Jews who had fled to
Brazil during the
World War II era. After
World War II, many
Sephardim successfully circumvented restrictive U.S. immigration laws, to join the large and largely
Ashkenazipopulation in the
Chicago area. However, it was not until the 1970s, did a visible Brazilian community begin to develop in Chicago. The Flyers Soccer Club was founded by a group of young men who desired to bring Brazilian soccer culture to the Chicago area. The Flyers Soccer Club eventually transformed into a multifaceted community organization called the Luso-Brazilian Club. The group was headquartered in Chicago's
Lakeview neighborhood. The group declined in the late 1980s. As Brazilians emigrated to the United States in large numbers in the 1980s and 1990s, Chicago's Brazilian population remained comparatively small, numbering no more than several thousand people by 2000.[40] The
FIFA World Cups have attracted the attention of Chicago's Brazilian population through the years, leading to the development of some Brazilian soccer-interested gatherings in the area.[41]
The top U.S. states by Brazilian ancestry population
The top U.S. counties by Brazilian immigrant population[42]
The national total being 433,500 persons estimated from the American Community Survey for 2015 - 2019 via the Migration Policy Institute website
U.S. communities with the most residents born in Brazil
According to the social networking and information website
City-Data, the top 25 U.S. communities with the highest percentage of residents born in Brazil are:[44]
Some City-Data information contradicts official government data from the
Census Bureau. It is important to be mindful that Brazilian Americans sometimes decline to identify as
Latino. Therefore, the above estimates may outnumber the census data figures for Latinos for the above census areas.
Brazilian Americans represent a large source of remittances to Brazil. Brazil receives approximately one quarter of its remittances from the U.S. (26% in 2012), out of a total amount of $4.9 billion received in 2012.[48][49]
Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D., Duke School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience,
Duke University Professor of Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering and Psychology and Neuroscience, and founder of Duke's Center for Neuroengineering.[63][64][65]
^"49 CFR Part 26". U.S. Department of Transportation. Archived from
the original on November 23, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012. 'Hispanic Americans,' which includes persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race;
^"US Small Business Administration 8(a) Program Standard Operating Procedure"(PDF). Archived from
the original(PDF) on September 25, 2006. Retrieved October 22, 2012. SBA has defined 'Hispanic American' as an individual whose ancestry and culture are rooted in South America, Central America, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, or the Iberian Peninsula, including Spain and Portugal.
^
abJouët-Pastré, Clémence, and Leticia J. Braga (2008). Becoming Brazuca: Brazilian immigration to the United States. Harvard University David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^UN Human Development Report, 2009, Chapter 2, sections 2.1 and 2.2
^Massey, Douglas S. 1999. “Why Does Immigration Occur? A Theoretical Synthesis." Pp. 34-52 in The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience, edited by C. Hirschman, P. Kasinitz and J. DeWind. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
^
ab"Yearbook 2016". Department of Homeland Security. May 16, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
^Walter Godinez (December 9, 2014).
"The World in NYC: Brazil". New York International. Archived from
the original on December 13, 2014. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from
the original(PDF) on February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)
Jefferson, Alphine W. "Brazilian Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 343–355.
online
Jouët-Pastré, Clémence, and Leticia J. Braga. Becoming Brazuca: Brazilian Immigration to the United States (Harvard University David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, 2008).
Margolis, Maxine L. Little Brazil: An Ethnography of Brazilian Immigrants in New York City (1994).
Piscitelli, Adriana. “Looking for New Worlds: Brazilian Women as International Migrants.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 33#4 (2008): 784–93.