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Book reveals role of black intellectuals against racism and citizenship in nineteenth-century Brazil

Contemplated in the Capes Thesis Prize, research originates a book that highlights networks created by literati and journalists

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The first demographic census carried out in Brazil in the 19th century pointed to an important fact: six out of every ten black and brown people were already living in free and liberated conditions, 16 years before the end of slavery. This majority of black women and men built experiences of freedom in the slave society, forming even transnational networks of writers, journalists and artists who fought for abolitionism and citizenship projects. The history of members of these networks was not completely neglected due to their exceptional nature. Trajectories such as that of Luiz Gama or José do Patrocínio, Machado de Assis or Chiquinha Gonzaga, are recognized in suspension, as described by historian Ana Flávia Magalhães Pinto, author of the book Freedom Writings: Black writers, racism and citizenship in nineteenth-century Brazil (Unicamp Publisher), from the collection Several Stories, organized by Cecult (Center for Research in Social History of Culture at Unicamp).

“Our tendency is not to recognize these subjects on the ground of history where the dichotomy of white masters and black slaves is based. But, in freedom, the exercise of citizenship was prohibited to black people on a daily basis due to racism”, states the author. Ana Flávia is a post-doctor in History from Unicamp and professor in the Department of History at the University of Brasília (UnB). The doctoral thesis “Strong ties in broken lines: black literati, racism and citizenship in the second half of the 2015th century”, which gave rise to the book, received an honorable mention in the XNUMX Capes Thesis Prize. (See the report in Jornal da Unicamp here).

According to the work, racism hijacked another story about abolitionism or about abolitionisms in Brazil. There were a series of projects for freedom and the end of slavery led by black subjects and foreseeing, in the author's words, more radical and popular expressions that articulated low-prestige workers' organizations. These projects dealt with expectations not only of the liberation of enslaved people, but with the consequent dismantling of obstacles placed on the full exercise of citizenship by those people who already lived in freedom.

The connections between the literati, or writers of the time, took place in an unusual way. Ana Flávia went looking for the most diverse documents to try to understand the relationships described in the book, as well as the bans imposed on the citizenship of the black population. The search for electoral records, for example, revealed that, although they had been able to vote since 1880, editors of the first black press newspapers in São Paulo, such as Arthur Carlos or Ignácio de Araújo Lima, from the newspaper The Homeland (1889), or Theophilo Dias de Castro, editor of The progress (1899), they were only able to exercise their political rights, in fact, in the following decade. “After the electoral reform of 1880, it was established that voters, in addition to being literate, had to prove a certain income. Although they were people with experience in the world of letters, these editors were unable to prove this income. In other words, they were people who were in the political debate, but could not vote due to subjective aspects”.

Photo: Perri
Historian Ana Flávia Magalhães Pinto, author of the book: “In freedom, the exercise of citizenship was prohibited to black people on a daily basis due to racism”

A central figure in mapping the networks of abolitionist literati was the lawyer and journalist José Ferreira de Menezes, editor of the publication Afternoon Gazette (1880) in Rio de Janeiro. Born in the 1840s and the son of a freedman, Menezes was part of a network of literate people and in 1860 he studied law at the Faculty of Law of Largo de São Francisco. “Upon arriving in São Paulo, Menezes established ties with Luiz Gama. It is a network that also has Machado de Assis circulating”.

Ana Flávia highlights that, in the province of São Paulo, Luiz Gama is the one who inspires the generation that produces the first black press newspapers such as The Homeland e The progress. There, relationships are established that go beyond national limits. The author says that in the founding of The progress, in 1899, Theophilo Dias de Castro placed the figure of Luiz Gama on the cover. He has a son, Theophilo Booker Washington, named after Booker T. Washington, a black leader in the United States who established a school for men and women, the current Tuskegee University.

“Some time later, one of the great newspapers of the São Paulo black press of the 20th century, the Clarim da Alvorada, will publish a series of texts by a law student named Booker. Those who worked with this documentation thought it was a pseudonym, but in fact it was the son of Theophilo Dias de Castro”. For the author, the episode connects three generations linked either by blood ties or by reference to a black struggle that does not end in the city of São Paulo or in the country itself.

Organizations such as the Black Race Cooperative Society, founded in 1888 with the aim of registering freed workers and recognizing skills to combat unemployment, in addition to school and professional training projects, are experiences of black autonomy in freedom rescued in the work.

“My work deals with the possibility of recognizing black experiences beyond slavery and how these people, in different ways, occupied cities and established networks, political, intellectual and cultural ties that were not lived underground in society. These people were in public spaces, in meetings abolitionists, in newspaper offices, in literary circles, in schools, in the theater and in music environments”. For the author, the simplifications of the historical narrative demean all the efforts that black men and women made to effectively end slavery.

At the same time, the effort to exclude these subjects was combined with the reinforcement of exceptionality. In the 20th century, a few, such as José do Patrocínio or Zumbi dos Palmares, were transformed into heroes of the black struggle. Ana Flávia believes that the current moment is one of unfolding the dialogue established between academia and anti-racist activism. The centenary of Abolition has already demanded a review of the idea of ​​“abolition as a gift” to the detriment of the recognition of black struggles. The institution of November 20th was a first gesture of questioning and affirming black protagonism in the struggles for freedom.

From 2003 onwards, a law was enacted that made it mandatory to teach African and Afro-Brazilian history and culture throughout the country's education network. “This law is a call for Brazil to rethink itself. It is not something that is restricted to the school environment, but impacts public debate. We have seen an increase in interest in recognizing these other black stories beyond slavery, beyond May 13th. We are contributing to this mental reorganization that needs to be done”, states the author.

 

 

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