My Portuguese isn't great at all but the way they described themselves to me initially, seemed very colour based like light brown, dark brown etc. Its only when I talked about my heritage, that's when they opened up about slavery and yoruba culture etc.
I know I shouldnt generalise but that is the vibe I got. You may have met people who had more pride.

So, you're making sweeping generalizations based on convos with people and you couldn't even speak their language properly? You didn't go to Bahia and you know it, I mean why would you say "Bahia" like that and not an actual city in it like Salvador, cause you probably googled it and didn't realize it's just a state

And, the description you gave sounds like you watched that PBS shyt, where some of them self identified as colors

