In the Pretos Novos Cemetery lie the mortal remains of thousands of Africans ripped from their homelands and brought to Brazil as slaves for the Portuguese.
Rediscovered in 1996, the locale was transformed into an archeological site and, later, a Cultural Center. The Pretos Novos Institute, which operates on the site, was created on May 13th, 2005, and was conceived to preserve the memory of events related to black slavery in Brazil.