large number of black societies (or black social clubs), with dancing, theatrical, musical, recreational, welfare, sports, artistic, educational and mutual aid purposes. These societies evidenced the existence of a process of professional and intellectual qualification of blacks. In the religious field, since the XIX century cults of African matrix have been registered in the state, and currently Rio Grande do Sul is the state where African manifestations have the greatest acceptance in Brazil, surpassing even Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, attracting interested people from all social layers, with some forms of wide penetration such as Batuque, Umbanda and Linha Cruzada, which share elements with similar ones in Brazil but have developed their own characteristics, and which Ari Pedro Oro calls "African-Gaúchas religions", besides more localized manifestations such as the Mozambique of Osório, the Quicumbi of Rio Pardo and the Ensaios of Mostardas. They also left their mark on the traditional Catholic cult. In almost all cities of relative importance, in the 19th century, Catholic brotherhoods of black and brown people were formed, giving birth to differentiated traditions. The Rosário brotherhoods stood out, founders of several churches, contributing to softening prejudices and valuing blacks as "good people." African-Gaúcha culture took shape: Street festivals as Carnival had a massive black presence. Music flourished in sambas, choros, marches, and romantic songs, later producing personalities of great projection. The regional vocabulary contains hundreds of words of black origin. They also contributed with games, legends, cuisine, and sayings, such as "The axe forgets; the tree remembers," and "The horse that arrives early drinks the good water." Whitening processes and historiography of denial Despite the flourishing of black culture in the state, African-descendant groups interacted with difficulty with white society and tended to remain in "separate worlds". There was since the early days of slavery, an effort by officialdom to convert blacks to the dominant culture, a deliberate effort at cultural whitening, especially after the abolition of slavery, and the erasure of black memory. The introduction of large waves of German and Italian settlers in the 19th century was an important part of the attempt to whiten southern society, and the arrival of these settlers caused blacks to lose space, be considered less skilled, less healthy, and lower morality workers. The abolition of slavery did not change their situation for the better, and they began to live in sub-employment and sub-housing, without basic conditions of education,