20 November marks the anniversary of the assassination of Zumbi dos Palmares, the best-known leader of Brazil’s most famous and enduring quilombo. This maroon settlement was established in the mountains of what is now Pernambuco by enslaved people who self-emancipated by escaping bondage.

This year, we published an anthology entitled The Need for Heroes. It contains writings by Black intellectuals from the US and Brazil that celebrate the heroism of maroons and soldiers who fought for liberation. One of the authors is Manuel Querino, writing about Palmares over a century ago.

Imagined portrait of Zumbi dos Palmares