A study grounded in the history of the anonymous and their immediate social relations dismantles myths about slavery in Brazil
Two scholars take “History of Private Life” as a starting point to recover new aspects of marriage and family relations among Brazilian slaves
For many decades, it was believed that family relations among slaves were either non-existent or trivial, since slave quarters were places of random promiscuity. Jean-Baptiste Debret, in his famous Viagem histórica e pitoresca ao Brasil [A Historic and Picturesque Voyage to Brazil], wrote that “one female slave was normally provided for each four men” in the plantations.
Manolo Florentino e José Roberto Pinto de Góes break down these and other myths in their book Peace in the Slave Quarters: Slave Families and the Atlantic Slave Trade, Rio de Janeiro, c. 1790-c.1850 [A paz das senzalas: famílias escravas e tráfico atlântico, Rio de Janeiro, c. 1790-c. 1850], published by Editora Unesp.
“Slave society did not think it was a crime to separate slave parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. But it was known that a significant aspect of slavery, in practice, was actually the intricate network of family connections, and neither masters nor slaves could even imagine that it could be otherwise,” the authors write.
Florentino and Góes make it clear that their book grew out of a phase of more recent historical knowledge, when the simple existence of family relationships can no longer be doubted. “It is important to call attention to one aspect which, over the past twenty years, has kept historians from a more complete understanding of slave families,” they observe. “Slave families were considered economically unfeasible.”
In the book flap, the full professor of the History Department of Universidade de São Paulo, Maria Luiza Marcilio, points out that children being born in captivity and the existence of religiously sanctioned families actually did serve the economical interests of the masters, who yearned for “peace in the quarters.” “But these practices were equally valuable to the slaves, who found mutual understanding through the friendship and family bonds in the slave quarters and could find some comfort before the harsh oppression of the masters.” Therefore, “with the tools given by historical demography,” he concludes, “it was possible to reveal human realities that had long been unsuspected.”
About the authors
Manolo Florentino is professor in the History Institute of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is the author of a number of works, and his Em costas negras [On Black Coasts], winner of A National Archives prize, was published by Editora Unesp in 2015.
José Roberto Pinto de Góes is an adjunct professor of the State University of Rio de Janeiro. He is the author of O cativeiro imperfeito: um estudo sobre a escravidão no Rio de Janeiro da primeira metade do século XIX [The Imperfect Captive: a Study of Slavery in Rio de Janeiro during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century], 1993.
Title: Peace in the Slave Quarters: Slave Families and the Atlantic Slave Trade, Rio de Janeiro, c. 1790-c.1850 [A paz das senzalas: famílias escravas e tráfico atlântico, Rio de Janeiro, c. 1790-c. 1850]
Authors: Manolo Florentino e José Roberto Pinto de Góes
Number of pages: 211
Format: 14 x 21 cm
ISBN: 978-85-393-0684-8
Rights: worldwide free