U.S President Theodore Roosevelt travelled to Brazil in 1913 and published an article about it.

https://www.unz.com/print/Outlook-1914feb21-00409

But yes, it was a real thing. The Brazilian's government solution to large slave population was to "bleach" them with White genes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanqueamiento#Brazil

Blanqueamiento ("branqueamento" in Portuguese) was circulated in national policy throughout Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[9][10] Blanqueamiento policies emerged in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery and the beginning of Brazil's first republic (1888–1889). To dilute the black race, Brazil executed public measures to increase European immigration,[9][11] where more than 1 million Europeans arrived in São Paulo between 1890 and 1914.[12] The state and federal government funded and subsidized immigrant travels,[11] where immigrants arrived from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Russia, Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands.[13] Claims that white blood would eventually eliminate black blood were found in accounts of immigration statistics.[13] Created in the late 19th century, Brazil's Directoria Geral de Estatística (DGE) has conducted demographic censuses and managed to measure the progress of whitening as successful in Brazil.[13]