This article aims to recover aspects of São Paulo carnival in the first decades of the 20th century, centered on the trajectory of one of the São Paulo blacks’ artistic-cultural expressions: the Campos Elyseos Carnival Group. In a context in which blacks were subordinated socially and politically, the cordão carnavalesco took on an affirmative sense, becoming a means of promoting this racial sector. In addition to providing diversion and entertainment to its members, the association circulated notions of belonging, equality, and citizenship.
