Capoeira: African Brazilian Karate by SALAAM, Yusef A. (aka Joseph Jones) - 1983

Harlem: Published by the author, 1983. Softcover. Fine. First edition. 12 full page illustrations by G. Falcon Beezer. Octavo. 29pp. Perfectbound illustrated wrappers. Price inked on title page else fine. A history, mostly intended for a juvenile audience, of the use of capoeira, an African-Brazilian form of self-defense invented by African slaves imported to Brazil. Many slaves escaped the plantations and fled into the jungles where they fought off the bush captains paid to re-capture them by using capoeira. It was then outlawed, although the slaves modified it into a dance and continued to teach and practice it. After slavery was outlawed in Brazil in 1808, capoeira became a popular sport and continues to be practiced. Self-published by the author, who also wrote *The Black Man's Contribution to the Martial Arts,* a portion of the book was first published in the November, 1978, issue of *Ebony*.