A derrocada da escravidão em Santarém, Província do Grão-Pará: significados da liberdade e a dinâmica das alforrias (1871 – 1888)

Abstract

The present study will investigate the life trajectory of the historical agents of slavery and freedom in the Province of Grão-Pará, focusing on the city of Santarém. The time span will cover the years 1871 to 1888. The initial milestone is due to the approval of Law 2040 of September 28, 1871 (Free Womb Law), which assumed an ambiguous condition. At the same time that it contributed to more slaves seeking their rights, it strengthened the master's rule. On the other hand, the year 1888 marks the proclamation of the Abolition of slavery. The choice of Santarém is justified, as it allows further studies on the meanings of freedom and the dynamics of manumission in a space with a large circulation of ideas, people and goods. It is about understanding how slaves, freedmen, freedmen and masters, dealt with the uncertainties and concerns arising from the process of transformations that Empire Brazil was going through, and specifically the Province of Grão-Pará, and how they responded to this process from the uses and practices of laws that ensured the social condition guaranteed by manumission and desired for themselves and their families in the case of the first three and the defense of the notion of property, as well as the maintenance of the domain provided by manumission, on the part of the last. To this end, we used a variety of sources, manumissions registered at a notary's office, civil and criminal actions, periodicals, travel reports, images and official state documents. From this exercise it was possible to characterize 19th century Santarém, glimpsing that the ownership of slave labor was spread across many hands, including foreign ones. Small squads of slaves prevailed in the city, sharing work space with freedmen, poor free people and aggregated indigenous people. It was also seen that in the name of manumission, the fight for freedom was taken to the courts, making visible the ambiguity of the laws, as while some managed to legitimize manumission through these means, others were distanced from this horizon, and finally it was noted that manumission presented a dynamic of meanings, uses and aspects that were fundamental as a control mechanism on the part of the masters, as well as a horizon to be conquered on the part of the slaves.