What if I told you that The Black Sheep in Lisbon holds a mirror to a past Portugal often overlooks? This isn’t just another art space. The Black Sheep whispers stories of resilience. It speaks of a hidden history.
Portugal’s capital is beautiful. It is a city built on blood. Beginning in the fifteenth century Portugal started the modern slave trade off the coast of West Africa. Lisbon quickly became the center of slavery in Portugal. Wealthy families purchased enslaved Africans. They worked in opulent homes and bustling docks along the Tejo River.
Despite slavery’s importance to Portugal, its history is muted in Lisbon. There are no museums or public memorials. A slavery museum was established in Lagos. Lisbon remains largely silent on its past.
Between 1441 and 1444 the first black captives landed on Portuguese soil. Lisbon became the center of the human traffic.
In 1486 the Crown created the Casa dos Escravos de Lisboa. This Lisbon Slave House processed the arrival of African captives. They came from Argium, Benin, and the Congo. Enslaved Africans were marched in chains. They were imprisoned before evaluation and auction. In 1512 the King ordered all slaves to disembark in Lisbon. Historian John L. Vogt estimates that 10% of Lisbon’s population was black in the sixteenth century.
Over time a black neighborhood formed. It was called Mocambo. It was a place of refuge. Beneath the pavement of today’s Rua do Poço dos Negros lies a mass burial pit.
Mocambo was known as a spiritually powerful space. African-descended people gathered there to invoke the spirit world.
Naky Gaglo is changing the story of public silence. He launched the “African Lisbon Tour”. It is a historical walking tour of black Lisbon. It covers slavery to the cultural history of African people from Angola and Cape Verde.
The tour begins at the Praça do Comercio. Enslaved Africans were marched to the Casa dos Escravos there. Africans were in Lisbon well before the slave trade. They were elites from the Kingdom of Congo. They came to study theology, translation, and astronomy.
There is a statue in Lisbon. It is dedicated to the abolition of slavery. It is a statue of General Marquês de Sá da Bandeira. He decreed the abolition of the Portuguese transatlantic slave trade in 1836.
The statue centers General Bandeira. A shackled woman holds a child. She sits below him. She is in gratitude of the general’s decree. There is a story behind the enslaved woman statue. It is tied to nineteenth-century black Lisbon.
There are no real public memorials in the city. This acknowledges the African history behind Lisbon. It is a political choice.
Now, when you step inside The Black Sheep, consider this. It’s more than art. It is a call to remember. It’s a tribute to those whose stories are etched in the stones of Lisbon, waiting to be heard. The Black Sheep stands as a reminder. Lisbon must acknowledge its complete history. It must honor all who shaped it.