The year in which the Bicentennial of Brazil's Independence is celebrated can be taken as an important indicator for thinking about numerous initiatives aimed at building the nation. One of them refers precisely to the world of printed matter, which also helps to distance us from historiography and to problematize it, therefore reducing the complex process of Brazil's emancipation to a scene, a man, a date, and an imperative statement.

As it is known, based on the change and need of the Portuguese Court to communicate with its subjects, which were diverse and unequally distributed in the vast territory of Brazil, D. João VI authorized the creation of the Impressão Régia.

The first Brazilian typography published some books and official orders until, on September 10, 1808, it started with the Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro, considered the first serial printed publication in Brazil. Afterwards, other typographies were installed in other regions and, gradually, Brazil was entering what ^{Anderson (2008}) called "typographic capitalism".

From then on, it is possible to effectively observe the publication proliferation of pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, reports, yearbooks, and books. This print production varied so much in terms of content, editorial design, formats, and recipients. It is also possible to observe that the ones responsible for it, that is, the editors, also had (and still have) the most diverse affiliations. This reinforces the perception of the strategic nature of the printed word and the disputes in the field of social communication, the development of the public opinion (specialized or not), through the action of selecting, prioritizing, and disseminating some social events, in well-determined ways, to the extent of being considered the “fourth estate”, thus confirming the maxim of the inexistence of power without press and the inexistence of press without power.

A curiosity in the post-Independence period is that many journals were organized by societies or associations commemorating the Sete de Setembro and some of these journals and societies were exactly entitled Sete de Setembro³ (^{Pasche et al, 2020}). This means it is a complementary resource to confirm, remind and legitimize the event that is considered the founding event of the Brazilian National State; fulfilling what ^{Revel (2009}) calls as the “duty to remember”.

It is, therefore, in this recognition of the multiplicity of social communication forms and the commitment to science for all that another issue of the Revista Brasileira de História da Educação (RBHE) is inscribed. In this issue we observe an ephemeris of another order. This is the publication of the dossier that addresses the history of education for black populations. This small event stems from the fact that, 18 years later, the RBHE published a first dossier on this topic. In the case of the current dossier, it differs from the previous one in terms of scope, quantity, and possibilities to reflect on this topic that is so sensitive in the case of the national experience.

The Dossier “History of Education and Black Populations”, resulted from the public call of the Brazilian Journal of History of Education, received 35 proposals. After evaluation, 12 articles followed the rescript were selected and received positive opinions from the ad hoc evaluators. The selected texts dealt with topics such as women, intellectuals, night classes, work, teaching first and higher education, teaching arts and crafts, all in intersection with the color/race of the subjects involved. They cover periods ranging from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, addressing the issue of education for black populations in different regions such as Bahia, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo. It also contains a text on the issue in Mozambique.

The surveys were carried out by renowned authors in the field, as well as master's and doctoral students from the various mentioned regions. Between them, there are names already enshrined in the field of History of Education and in the History of Education of Black Populations, and young researchers who began their research trajectories in the area. It is worth noting that Adriana Maria Paulo da Silva, Eliane Peres and Marcus Vinícius da Fonseca were part of the first dossier on the subject, published by RBHE, and now return 18 years later with updated research in this new dossier. The diversity of analyses, emphases, methodologies and theoretical foundations of subjects researching and being researched is quite clear. The interest of the theme, alongside the investments made by researchers and groups in the field of history of education, can also be understood by the impulse provoked by movements, initiatives and public policies aimed at the most vulnerable populations, such as ^{Law n. 12711/12, the so-called Lei de Cotas}; which has given visibility, legality and legitimacy to the right to higher education for subjects historically excluded from this possibility (^{Arantes, Gondra & Barros, 2022}).⁴

The other 31 articles that constitute the collection come from all regions of Brazil, with contributions of authors from Argentina, Spain, and Mozambique. Diversity is also generational, bearing in mind the presence of more experienced authors and young researchers, some of whom participate in the co-authorship regime. Another dimension of diversity refers to established themes (teaching, teaching materials, educational reforms, public policies) and emerging themes (history of deaf education, history of immigration), as well as the theoretical-methodological contributions that anchor the published studies.

In 2022, until the beginning of November, 126 collaborators from Brazil and other countries participated as ad hoc evaluators, respecting their institutional diversity and expertise to validate the work sent to them, as shown in Graph 1.

Source: The authors (2022)

Graph 1 Distribution of RBHE reviewers by region (2022) 

It should be mentioned the significant investment made by RBHE in making 25 articles in this issue available in a foreign language, an effort to make the texts more accessible to non-Portuguese readers. In times in reduction of costs and reduced investments in science and education, this policy deserves even more emphasis.

Finally, the 2022 issue ends with the publication of 3 reviews, which report and invite readers to learn about part of the production in the area disseminated through books.

RBHE thus publishes yet another relevant series of research results, which demonstrates the vigor and quality of a significant part of the production in the field of the history of education, reinforcing the invitation to read, comment, disseminate and send new articles to the journal.