The Black Man in Slavery and Freedom in Colonial Brazil

List 0/ Plates viii PreJace xi Acknowledgements xiii 1 Africans and Europeans: historiography and perceptions of reality 1 2 Paths to freedom 27 3 Free blacks and free mulattos in the economy of Portuguese America 50 4 Free blacks and free mulattos in the society of Portuguese America 67 5 V oicing of aspirations by persons of African descent 83 6 The person of African descent in the culture of Portuguese America 95 7 The other slavery: gold mining and the 'peculiar institution' 8 Collective behaviour: the brotherhoods 9 Domestic behaviour: family and kinship 10 Chiaroscuro in colonial Brazil Notes 204 Bibliography 253 Index 284 vii LIST OF PLA TES Soldiers of the third miIitia regiment of blacks in Bahia, 1806 A lady carried in her chair and followed by her slaves Slaves selling their wares Female slaves Female slaves 6 Slaves at the festival of Our Lady of the Rosary Slave operating a cylindrical tobacco press, Bahia, c. 1789 8 Diamond District in Minas Gerais, c. 1755. Arraial do Tijuco 9 Working a cata for diamonds 10 The quilombo of Buraco do Tatu near the coast of Itapoan, c. 1763 viii The source for Plates 1, 7, 8 and 10 was Arquivo Historico Ultramarino, Lisbon, and the source for Plates 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9 was Carlos J uliäo, Riscos iluminados de figurinhos de brancos e negros dos uzos do Rio de Janeiro e Serro do Frio (Rio de Janeiro, 1960). A note on Carlos Juliäo Carlos J uliäo was born in Turin in 1740 and pursued a military career, rising from the rank of alferes (second lieutenant) in 1763 to the post of colonel in 1805. In November of that year he was appointed deputy inspector of the installations of the army arsenal, and retired with the rank of brigadier. Widely travelled, Juliäo served in Brazil, India, and China, and distinguished hirnself for heroism under fire during the expedition to Mazagäo. He gained farne for the precision and detail of his reports, be they of the district of M acao or the artillery and munitions of the province of Extremadura. CarlosJuliäo died in 1811. The prints used as plates in this book are housed in the Se~äo de iconografia in the National Library, Rio deJaneiro, and were published in 1960 accompanied by a historical introduction and descriptive catalogue authored by Lygia da Fonseca Fernandes da Cunha. ## ix xiii The Black Man in Slavery praisal of African cultures in the New World. Sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, and historians, have run the gamut from denying any African dimension in the evolution of New World sodeties to seeing any cultural manifestation reminiscent of an African heritage as a survival. Early excesses have given way to more balanced assessments of the African legacy to the Americas and the role of the Afro-American during the colonial and independence periods. For the most part African traditions, beliefs, and patterns ofbehaviour underwent modifications as they adapted to the new sodal, economic, human, and ecological environments. Rather than viewing such modification as indicative of a weakened African legacy, scholars have come to view adaptive capacity as evidence of the strength and continuity of African beliefs and lifestyles in the Americas. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Africans and Europeans: Historiography and Perceptions of Reality....Pages 1-26 Paths to Freedom....Pages 27-49 Free Blacks and Free Mulattos in the Economy of Portuguese America....Pages 50-66 Free Blacks and Free Mulattos in the Society of Portuguese America....Pages 67-82 Voicing of Aspirations by Persons of African Descent....Pages 83-94 The Person of African Descent in the Culture of Portuguese America....Pages 95-103 The Other Slavery: Gold Mining and the ‘Peculiar Institution’....Pages 104-127 Collective Behaviour: The Brotherhoods....Pages 128-160 Domestic Behaviour: Family and Kinship....Pages 161-197 Chiaroscuro in Colonial Brazil....Pages 198-203 Back Matter....Pages 204-295