The University of Brasilia's affirmative action process is about to enter a crucial week. Students who have identified themselves as Afro-Brazilian must pose for a photograph that will be evaluated by a secret committee. This panel will try to determine whether students look "black enough" to qualify for the quota system.

To participate in the University of Brasilia's quota program, applicants must do something most have never been required to do - identify themselves as black.

Brazil has long presented itself as a "racial democracy" but deep disparities in income, education and employment have finally prompted a campaign for equal treatment for Afro-Brazilians. Brazil in Black and White captures a unique moment as a nation looks in the mirror.

Seventeen-year-old Josie de Souza is one of almost 23,000 students taking this year's entrance exam for the University of Brasilia. She hopes to be one of those admitted under its new racial quota system.