Bitita's Diary: The Childhood Memoirs of Carolina Maria de Jesus (Latin American Realities)

Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977), nicknamed Bitita, was a destitute black Brazilian woman born in the rural interior who migrated to the industrial city of Sao Paulo. This is her autobiography, which includes details about her experiences of race relations and sexual intimidation. Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977), nicknamed Bitita, was a destitute black Brazilian woman born in the rural interior who migrated to the industrial city of Sao Paulo. She was self-taught and obtained a degree of celebrity after the publication of several of her diaries written in the 1950s. Her book, Quarto de Despejo (The Garbage Room) sold over 90,000 copies in six months, was translated into five languages, and sold over 300,000 copies in English hardcover alone, as Child of the Dark. Her autobiography, drafted just prior to her death, covers her early life in the 1920s and 1930s. Originally published in French as Journal de Bitita and appearing now for the first time in the English language, Bitita's Diary is the most important document testifying to the hardships of lower-class black Brazilian women ever written. Offering extensive details about race and race relations, religion in rural Brazil (both Roman Catholicism and spiritism), life in small towns and cities of the interior, sexual intimidation, and the hardships of sharecropping, Carolina provides an insightful and moving glimpse of the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 from the vantage point of a poor person caught up in its promise.

"Carolina (1915-77), whose childhood nickname was Bitita, evokes the hardships of her early life in 1920s-30s rural Minas Gerais. Volume was written in 1970s and posthumously published, first in French in 1982 and finally in Portuguese in 1986. This very careful translation aims to retain inconsistencies and nonstandard grammar of the original. Valuable introduction and afterword by Levine"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.

Bitita's Diary Contents Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction About the Translation 1 Childhood 2 The Godmothers 3 The Holiday 4 Being Poor 5 A Little History 6 The Blacks 7 My Family 8 The City 9 My Son-in-Law 10 Grandfather's Death 11 School 12 The Farm 13 I Return to the City 14 The Domestic 15 Illness 16 The Revolution 17 The Rules of Hospitality 18 Culture 19 The Safe 20 The Medium 21 The Mistress 22 Being a Cook Afterword About the Editor