A cross in the center of Santo Antônio dos Pretos, a village on the edge of the Amazon forest. - The interaction between blacks and African native peoples was a complex phenomenon, which occurred largely out of sight of the Europeans: a hidden tragedy that historians and archaeologists have begun to reveal only recently. This "lost chapter" of the story is emerging from darkness, especially in Brazil, where thousands of mixed communities - here known as quilombos, from the word meaning "settlement" in kimbundu, the language of Angola - are now their voices to reaffirm their culture and claim title to the lands they occupy since the days of slavery. The stakes are high: new laws are giving to Brazilian quilombos a key role in decisions on the future of the great Amazon forest. photographed by Tyrone Turner

The inhabitants of Santa Rosa dos Pretos Quilombo celebrate the healing of a neighbor with a tambor de Crioula, a dance to the rhythm of "Creole drums" which mixes African traditions and Western Europe. photographed by Tyrone Turner

The palm trees near Santo Antônio dos Pretos give (slightly) life to a hundred families. The Quilombo was founded by escaped slaves two years before emancipation, sanctioned in 1888. photographed by Tyrone Turner

Jacey Mendes de Santiago "kills the hunger" with a shot of cachaça, a distilled sugar cane. She is helping in clearing the land to grow cassava root using the method of "slash and burn" that is used by different tenant farmers. photographed by Tyrone Turner

In the sixteenth century the coastal forests of Brazil were razed to make way for plantations of sugar cane, and millions of slaves were imported from Portuguese Africa. Today farms like this one in the northeast near Rio Formoso produce sugarcane for ethanol, a major export. photographed by Tyrone Turner

A lone chimney is all that remains of the sugar plantation in Frechal, which was donated in part to former slaves in 1925. The Quilombo has requested and obtained in 1992 that the transfer of ownership to be officially recognized. photographed by Tyrone Turner

Samucangaua, a quilombo in the State of Maranhão, Maria Tereza Costa pounding rice in a mortar to remove the husks from rice, a preparation technique identical to those adopted by the peoples of West Africa. photographed by Tyrone Turner

At sunset, the young quilombolas people of Santa Rosa dos Pretos gather to socialize and dance. Once a quilombo has title to its lands, it can qualify for credit, invest in equipment, and offer young people jobs and opportunity. photographed by Tyrone Turner

A woman fishing in the Codòzinho river with bare hands, close to the Quilombo Santo Antonio dos Pretos, to feed the family. mostly poor and isolated, the quilombos no impact on the environment as a large factory farms that surround them. photographed by Tyrone Turner

Juvenildo Serejo lives in a a coastal quilombo called Itapera and earns his living through his own net. A few years ago he tried to live in the city of St. Paul, but that life was not for him and returned to his roots. photographed by Tyrone Turner

A villager dressed as a bull parades through northeastern Brazil during the festival of Bumba-Meu-Boi (loose translation: “Shake it, ox!”), when virtually every quilombo, and every village and town, celebrates the hero of a Brazilian folktale. In the story a bull is killed by a slave eager to appease his pregnant wife’s craving for bull tongue, and then is magically restored to life. photographed by Tyrone Turner

Terecô priest Pedro de Souza is “channeling” a menacing female spirit: A client has hired him to cast spells on her unfaithful husband. Terecô is one of the quilombos’ many hybrid religions, interweaving African and Christian beliefs with native practices. photographed by Tyrone Turner

Trailed by his brother, Roney Mafra totes the head of a bull slaughtered by a relative in Soledade. The meat will feed attendees of Bumba-Meu-Boi. photographed by Tyrone Turner