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O Exemplo: Afro-Brazilian Protest in Pôrto Alegre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

John F. Bratzel  and
Daniel M. Masterson
John F. Bratzel
Affiliation:
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Daniel M. Masterson
Affiliation:
Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio
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Extract

The last fifteen years have witnessed a growing amount of historical scholarship offering sound evidence that slavery and postemancipation racial attitudes in Brazil were not as benign as some historians have suggested. These writings have demonstrated that racial and class prejudice existed both during and after slavery. Comparatively little attention, however, has been devoted to specific studies of free Afro-Brazilians in the years immediately following the passage of the Golden Law in May, 1888. Such studies are required to better understand the problems involved in the integration of blacks and mulattoes into modern Brazilian society.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , April 1977 , pp. 585 - 592
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1977

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References

1 Some of the important works challenging the traditional interpretation of Brazilian slavery and race relations are: Roger Bastide and Florestan Fernandes, Brancos e negros em São Paulo (Sao Paulo, 1959); Boxer, C. R., The Golden Age of Brazil, 1695–1750 (Berekeley and Los Angeles, 1964);Google Scholar Cardoso, Fernando Enrique, Capitalismo e escravidão no Brasil meridional (São Paulo, 1962);Google Scholar Conrad, Robert, The Destruction of Brazilian Slavery, 1850–1888 (Berkeley, 1972);Google Scholar Davies, David Brion, The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture (Ithaca, New York, 1966);Google Scholar Dcgler, Carl N., Neither Black nor White (New York, 1971);Google Scholar Fernandes, Florestan, A integracão do negro a sociedade de classes (São Paulo, 1964);Google Scholar Richard Graham, “Brazilian Slavery Re-examined: A Review Article,” Journal of Social History, 3 (1970), 431–453; Harris, Marvin Patterns of Race in the Americas (New York, 1964);Google Scholar Ianni, Octavio, As metomorfoses do escravo (São Paulo, 1962);Google Scholar Leslie B. Rout, Jr., “Sleight of Hand: Brazilian and American Authors Manipulate the Brazilian Racial Situation,” The Americas, 4 (1973), 471–489; and Stein, Stanley J., Vassouras, A Brazilian Coffee County, 1850–1900 (Cambridge, 1957.)Google Scholar

2 Our thanks to Dr. José Bittencourt, a relative of one of the early editors for allowing us to look at the papers. According to him O Exemplo was revived at various times up to 1920 but none of the issues after 1895 still exist. Among the 148 issues from 1892 to 1895, numbers 55 to 80 and 92 to 146 are missing.

3 Cardoso, 77. From a total of sixty-one slaves advertised for sale in this newspaper, only fourteen were listed as agricultural laborers with the remainder being categorized as artisans or domestic servants.

4 Conrad, 209.

5 lbid., 204.

6 lbid., 285. The slave population in Rio Grande do Sul fluctuated dramatically between 1864 and 1887. The number of slaves in the province stood at 40,000 in 1864 and by 1874 it had jumped to 98,450. As the inter-provincial slave traffic increased during the next ten years the slave figure in 1884 declined to 60,136.

7 lbid., 188. For the sharp drop in slave prices see Stein, 229.

8 See Cardoso, 236–261 for a valuable critical analysis of this system of “liberation.”

9 lbid.,81.

10 This December, 1871 edict, also known as the Law of Free Birth (Lei do Venre Livre) freed all the children of slaves. However, these children would have to remain under the tutelage of the master until age eight. At that time the owner had the right to free them completely in exchange for money paid by the state or hold them until age twenty-one and receive no compensation.

11 Conrad, p. 209.

12 O Exemplo, December 11, 1892, p. 1.

13 One group the editors perceived as threatening were the Chinese. The newspaper opposed immigration because it believed wages would decline. See lbid., July 2, 1893, p. 2.

14 lbid., January 22, 1893, p. 2.

15 lbid., April 2, 1893, p. 1.

16 lbid., This particular story was in a column headed, “Escandalo” (scandal).

17 lbid.

18 lbid., January 1, 1893, p. 1.

19 lbid., June 18, 1893, p. 1.

20 lbid., August 20, 1893, p. 1.

21 lbid., September 17, 1893, p. 1.

22 For more information on the naval revolt, see June E. Hahner, Civilian-Military Relations in Brazil, 1889–1898 (Columbia, South Carolina, 1969), pp. 60–72.

23 lbid., April 23, 1893, p. 1.

24 lbid., April 3, 1893, p. 1.

25 lbid., January 8, 1893, p. 1.

26 lbid., July 23, 1893, p. 1.

27 lbid., January 8, 1893, p. 1.

28 lbid.

29 lbid., June 18, 1893, p. 1.

30 lbid., September 17, 1893, p. 7.

31 lbid., January 8, 1893, p. 1.

32 See Degler, pp. 99–100. The author sums up the situation by stating, “… the further south one travels in Brazil the more intense is the prejudice.” Herbert S. Klein, “Nineteenth Century Brazil,” in Neither Slave nor Free, edited by Cohen, David W. and Greene, Jack P. (Baltimore: 1972), pp. 330–331.Google Scholar

33 Degler, 177–178.

34 See, for example, January 1, 1893, p. 1. January 22, 1893, p. 2, and April 2, 1893, p. 1.

35 In Cohen and Greene, Neither Slave nor Free, pp. 309–334.

36 The 1872 figures are from, Brazil, Rencenseamento do populacão do Imperio do Brazil a que se procedeu no dia 1° de agosto de 1812, (Rio de Janeiro, 1873–1876), six microfilm roles, reel 1, p. 205. The 1890 statistics are contained in, Directoria Geral de Estadística, Sexo, raça e estado civil, nacionalidade, filacão, culto, e anaphabetismo, (Rio de Janeiro, 1898), p. 2. The 1890 figure for the black population represents the simple addition of the “prêtos” and “mestiças” (mixed) classifications. It is our assumption that the vast majority of the “mixed” category had at least some ad-mixture of black blood. This assumption is buoyed by the fact that the 1890 census indicates that only five percent of the Riograndense population was “caboclo.” We suspect the use of the term “mesticas” instead of pardo, was an attempt to indicate to the world that Brazil was not as black as it was.

37 Degler, p. 245.

38 Barros, Miguel , “Discurso do representante Frente Negro Pelotense,” in Estudo Afro-Brasileiros, ed. by Roquette-Pinto, E. (Rio de Janeiro, 1935), pp. 269–271.Google Scholar

39 Correio de Povo, May 16, 1971, p. 16.

40 Getúlio Vargas, João Goulart, Artur da Costa e Silva, Emilio Garrastuzú Médici, and Ernest Geisel.