When Mercedes Guimarães was doing construction work on her house in 1996, workers uncovered huge quantities of human fragments. After discussions with a historian, she learned the site had been the burial place of enslaved Africans. She halted work and turned her house into this small museum, cultural center and memorial to all the captive people brought to Brazil. The displays are quite powerful and provide a context for what life was like for newly arrived Africans in the 18th and 19th centuries.