I'm not an anthropologist or historian, but I studied a little bit about it, so correct me if I say something wrong.

In the end of the 19th most of the Brazilian population was formed by freedmen and their descendants. After the abolition of slavery, the rich intellectual elite used the eugenics theories to justify racial hierarchy, saying that the branqueamento of the population was the only way to achieve the "progress" of the nation. A lot of influential people in Brazil believed that, including Monteiro Lobato, who wrote "Sítio do Pica-pau Amarelo", one of the most famous series of children's books in Brazil, and doctors like Nina Rodrigues, who wrote racist books defending that black and mestiços were the cause of poverty in Brazil. They also defended politics of sterilization and the prohibition of immigration of non white people.

this painting shows a lot about the mentality of some people at this time