{"id":237934,"date":"2017-05-17T14:48:31","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T17:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=237934\/"},"modified":"2017-05-17T14:48:31","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T17:48:31","slug":"black-intellectuality-during-the-brazilian-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/black-intellectuality-during-the-brazilian-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"Black intellectuality during the Brazilian Empire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Collection of the Portuguese Royal Reading Room<\/span><\/a> Novel by author Teixeira e Sousa…Collection of the Portuguese Royal Reading Room<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

In November 1831, black typesetter Francisco de Paula Brito (1809-1861) purchased a bookstore from his mixed-race cousin Silvino Jos\u00e9 de Almeida, and transformed it into one of the largest publishing houses of the Brazilian Second Empire. Dom Pedro II himself was one of the partners of the publishing house, and he granted it the distinction of Royal Household Printer in 1851. Paula Brito\u2019s importance was not limited to his business success: he was responsible for printing one of the first periodicals to defend the rights of blacks, and later published the first works by writers Teixeira e Sousa and Machado de Assis.<\/p>\n

According to Rodrigo Camargo de Godoi in his dissertation Um editor no Imp\u00e9rio: Francisco de Paula Brito (1809-1861) <\/em>\u00a0(A publisher in the Brazilian Empire: Francisco de Paula Brito (1809-1861)), defended at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences of the University of Campinas (IFCH-Unicamp) in 2014 and now published as a book by the University of S\u00e3o Paulo Press (Edusp), the publisher\u2019s story is not just an isolated case: \u201cThere was a black intellectual movement that appeared towards the end of the 18th<\/sup> and early 19th<\/sup> centuries, composed of personalities such as legal scholar Antonio Pereira Rebou\u00e7as and politician Francisco J\u00ea de Acaiaba Montezuma, the Viscount of Jequitinhonha. They were the sons and grandsons of slaves who became free, attained a higher social status and held positions in areas ranging from medicine to journalism and politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Integration by those of African descent into the cultural elite during the Empire period was never easy, since prejudice closed many doors to them. At the Largo S\u00e3o Francisco Law School in S\u00e3o Paulo, a number of professors (such as Avellar Brotero and Veiga Cabral) did not hide their racist tendencies \u2013 in fact, it was only in 1879 that a black man, Jos\u00e9 Rubino de Oliveira, was able to become a professor at this institution. However, resistance began to wane with the growth in the numbers of free Afro-descendants.<\/p>\n

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Collection of the Portuguese Royal Reading Room<\/span><\/a> …and book published by editor Paula Brito: Black intellectuals in the 1840sCollection of the Portuguese Royal Reading Room<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

There was a large drop in the percentage of slaves as a part of the population during the 19th<\/sup> century, partly due to the growing restrictions placed on the slave trade, and partly due to the expansion of other forms of labor relations. According to historian Jacob Gorender, in his book O escravismo colonial<\/em> (Colonial slavery), published in 1978, slaves accounted for 50.5% of the population in 1818. This percentage fell to 34.5% in 1850 and reached 15.2% in 1872. During this last year, according to Sidney Chalhoub, a professor at Unicamp and author of A for\u00e7a da escravid\u00e3o<\/em> (The power of slavery) (2012), 42.7% of the population was composed of free blacks and mixed-race people. At that time, out of every four black people, three were free. Many of them held important positions at educational institutions, in the arts, and above all in the press, as shown by Ana Fl\u00e1via Magalh\u00e3es Pinto in her dissertation \u201cFortes la\u00e7os em linhas rotas: Literatos negros, racismo e cidadania na segunda metade do s\u00e9culo XIX<\/em>\u201d (Strong ties in shabby lines: black writers, racism, and citizenship in the second half of the nineteenth century), defended at IFCH-Unicamp in 2014 and awarded honorable mention by the Capes Dissertation Award in 2015.<\/p>\n

What were the factors that enabled the appearance of these black intellectuals in a society that was still segmented by slave labor? According to Magalh\u00e3es Pinto, in their efforts to overcome the barriers placed on the exercise of their civil rights, Afro-descendants had to rely on the channels of power and prestige then prevalent. As argued by critic Roberto Schwarz in his book Ao vencedor as batatas<\/em> (The winner gets the prize) (1977), in a society founded on relations of personal domination (owner-slave), the distribution of government positions and the benefits of the State depended on personal favors from those in power. However, this distribution was not marked solely by \u201cvertical, hierarchical relations of personal protection.\u201d According to Chalhoub, there were also \u201chorizontal networks,\u201d composed of many individuals who acted in a more or less coordinated manner: \u201cFor example, when he began his journalistic career, Machado de Assis responded to many requests for reviews to publicize books for colleagues in the early stages of their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Brasiliana Library of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo <\/span><\/a> Teixeira e Sousa…Brasiliana Library of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Among the best known of the socializing networks is Freemasonry. Ligia Fonseca Ferreira, a professor at the graduate program in language and literature at the Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (Unifesp) and organizer of the critical edition of Com a palavra, Luiz Gama: Poemas, artigos, cartas, m\u00e1ximas <\/em>(Now speaking, Luiz Gama: Poems, articles, letters, maxims) (2011), notes that two important black intellectuals, attorney Luiz Gama and writer Jos\u00e9 Ferreira de Menezes, joined the Loja Am\u00e9rica in S\u00e3o Paulo, which was founded in 1868. Two years later, the institution already supported a night school to teach basic literacy skills to 214 students: \u201cThe school received freed and manumitted slaves. Given the lack of libraries in the city, they also founded a library that was open to the public,\u201d says Ferreira. She notes that Luiz Gama himself taught at the school, and some classes were given at his home.<\/p>\n

In addition to Freemasonry, political parties also played an essential role. Facing strong competition from French bookstores such as Baptiste Louis Garnier, Brazilian publisher Paula Brito owed part of his success to the alliances forged with liberal politicians towards the end of the 1830s, and those forged with conservatives from 1840 until the end of his life. As Rodrigo Godoi shows, his political contacts enabled him to benefit from the labor of Africans who had been rescued from seized slave ships. These workers (who in practice were almost undistinguishable from slaves) were handed over to private parties, who, in exchange, were supposed to dress and feed them. As Godoi explains in his book, \u201cabove all, these concessions reflected social prestige […], becoming a synonym of political favor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Collection of the Royal Reading Room <\/span><\/a> …and Paula Brito: regulars in the intellectual circles of the EmpireCollection of the Royal Reading Room <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

However, the emergence of black intellectuality was not only based on connections with the propertied classes, maintains Magalh\u00e3es Pinto. \u201cIt is common to explain the rise of people like Luiz Gama, Jos\u00e9 do Patroc\u00ednio and Machado de Assis based on the identification of the presence of some big shot as a protector,\u201d she affirms. \u201cWithout denying the importance of the logic of favors between \u201cthe powerful\u201d and \u201cdependent free persons,\u201d my research has allowed me to access other networks of protection that are as important as these.\u201d Magalh\u00e3es Pinto notes the cases of Arthur Carlos, Ign\u00e1cio de Ara\u00fajo Lima and Theophilo Dias de Castro, involved with the publishing of newspapers A P\u00e1tria<\/em> and O Progresso<\/em>, the first examples of black press in S\u00e3o Paulo, which were connected with the Nossa Senhora do Ros\u00e1rio and Nossa Senhora dos Rem\u00e9dios brotherhoods. According to Magalh\u00e3es Pinto, individuals often participated in different associations over the course of their lives: \u201cVicente de Souza, whom I am studying in my post-doctoral research, participated in more than 50 religious, political and literary organizations. He has connections to Freemasonry and positivism. He was an abolitionist, a republican and a socialist. Several leaders of the workers\u2019 movement in Rio de Janeiro during the 1890s were black.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paula Brito created a sort of club, the Sociedade Petal\u00f3gica, whose members met at his bookstore to discuss current topics. Members included politicians such as the Viscount of Rio Branco (Jos\u00e9 Maria da Silva Paranhos), Eus\u00e9bio de Queiroz and Justiniano Rocha, writers Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, Teixeira e Sousa and Machado de Assis, journalist Augusto Em\u00edlio Zaluar and actor Jo\u00e3o Caetano. As Machado de Assis wrote in his chronicle Ao acaso<\/em> (At random), published in 1865, members of the Sociedade Petal\u00f3gica talked about everything, \u201cfrom the removal of a Ministry to the pirouette of the latest trendy dancer.\u201d It was a \u201cneutral field\u201d in which young intellectuals could meet with mentors, and Italian singers could speak with former ministers.<\/p>\n

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Digital newspaper library of the National Library <\/span><\/a> Issue of Revista Ilustrada<\/em> of 1880 shows writer Ferreira de Meneses (at the window, on the left<\/em>) and journalist Jos\u00e9 do Patroc\u00ednio at the Gazeta de Not\u00edcias, which the two ownedDigital newspaper library of the National Library <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The grandson of freed blacks who had already learned how to read in the 18th<\/sup> century, Paula Brito had access to books while he was quite young, which enabled him to become a typesetter in 1824. He also wrote poetry (one of his poems, \u201cOde \u00e0 imprensa<\/em>\u201d (Ode to the press), was written for Dom Pedro II at the Imperial Palace); and after he bought his cousin\u2019s bookstore, he began to print dozens of newspapers. It was he who published one of the first periodicals of the black press in Brazil, O mulato<\/em> or O homem de cor<\/em> (The mulatto or The man of color), which criticized the absence of Afro-descendants in public positions.<\/p>\n

Once they made their way into socialization networks, black intellectuals were able to pave the way for others. Paula Brito gave work to Teixeira e Sousa, which led to the publication of C\u00e2nticos l\u00edricos<\/em> (Lyrical songs) in 1841 and O filho do pescador <\/em>(The fisherman\u2019s son), the first Brazilian novel, in 1843. Paula Brito also published the first poems and articles of Machado de Assis in his newspaper Marmota Fluminense<\/em>. According to Godoi, it was Paula Brito who introduced the figure of the \u201cmodern publisher, the one who purchases the manuscript and publishes it\u201d into Brazil. At a time when publishers usually published pirated translations of foreign authors, he decided to purchase texts and rights from domestic authors.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, these intellectuals were the targets of a great deal of criticism. Some researchers, such as historian Humberto Fernandes Machado (author of the dissertation \u201cPalavras e brados: A imprensa abolicionista do Rio de Janeiro, 1880-1888<\/em>\u201d) (Words and exclamations: the abolitionist press of Rio de Janeiro, 1880-1888), affirm that journalists such as Jos\u00e9 do Patroc\u00ednio had \u201ca paternalistic, conciliatory and reformist posture,\u201d which was in line with the interests of the slave owners. Similar accusations had already been made in the 19th<\/sup> century against Machado de Assis by black grammarian Hemet\u00e9rio Jos\u00e9 dos Santos. In the opinion of Magalh\u00e3es Pinto, considerations of this type ignore the fact that black intellectuals had to engage in dialogue with a very diverse public, which included both slave owners that were averse to any concessions, and radical abolitionists.<\/p>\n

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Digital newspaper library of the National Library <\/span><\/a> Issue of Gazeta de Not\u00edcias<\/em> announces the publication, in folder format, of the first Brazilian novel, O filho do pescador (The fisherman\u2019s son), by black author Teixeira e SousaDigital newspaper library of the National Library <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

According to Chalhoub, black intellectuals became more visible in the 1870s because abolitionism became a generalized movement, attracting intellectuals from different political philosophies (liberals, conservatives, republicans). However, after slavery ended, \u201cthere was a silencing of the legacy of slavery: the republican regime was created to a large extent as a reaction to the perception that the Crown, by aligning itself with the fight against slavery, was harming the interests of coffee growers.\u201d From that point on, black intellectualism began to lose influence.<\/p>\n

Projects<\/strong>
\n1.<\/strong> Fortes la\u00e7os em linhas rotas: Experi\u00eancias de intelectuais negros em jornais fluminenses e paulistanos no fim do s\u00e9culo XX (n\u00ba 2009\/09115-0<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong>\u00a0Scholarships in Brazil \u2013 Doctoral; Principal Investigator<\/strong>\u00a0Sidney Chalhoub (IFCH-Unicamp); Grantee:<\/strong> Ana Fl\u00e1via Magalh\u00e3es Pinto; Investment\u00a0<\/strong>R$126,751.52.
\n2.<\/strong> Oper\u00e1rios das letras: Escritores, jornalistas e editores no Rio de Janeiro (1850-1920)\u00a0(n\u00ba 2014\/19669<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong>\u00a0Scholarships in Brazil \u2013 Postdoctoral; Principal Investigator<\/strong>\u00a0Sidney Chalhoub (IFCH-Unicamp); Grantee<\/strong>\u00a0Rodrigo Camargo de Godoi; Investment <\/strong>R$182,696.80.<\/p>\n

Book
\nGodoi, R. C. de. Um editor no Imp\u00e9rio: Francisco de Paula Brito (1809-1861)<\/strong>. S\u00e3o Paulo: Edusp, 2016, 392 p.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Abolition, the descendants of slaves played an important social role ","protected":false},"author":594,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[241,245,261],"coauthors":[1580],"class_list":["post-237934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humanities","tag-history","tag-literature","tag-sociology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/594"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237934"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=237934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}