Porto Alegre publicly celebrates municipal emancipation

On 25 March 1884, Ceará became the first Brazilian province to abolish slavery throughout its territory. This provincial act followed years of municipal emancipation, the jangadeiros’ refusal to...

Women met at the Nova Emancipadora’s headquarters and founded Ave Libertas, a women-led society that sought freedom for enslaved people in Recife. They elected interim officers and a committee to...

The society’s first dramatic benefit at Recife’s Teatro Santo Antônio used music, theater, poetry, and public sociability to raise support for emancipation. During the interval, Epiphania and Joaquina...

On 10 July 1884, the province of Amazonas declared enslaved people in its territory free, following Ceará’s provincial abolition. Regional abolition reflected local campaigns and a wider crisis of the...

A second theatrical benefit drew a full audience. Using the proceeds, the Ave Libertas society secured letters of freedom for three enslaved women whose names were not preserved in the newspaper...

At a public festival in Recife’s Teatro Santa Isabel, the society installed a new board, heard speeches and music, and delivered twenty letters of manumission. Leonor Porto presented the documents....

João Ramos and eleven associates founded a secret abolitionist group in Recife, first called Relâmpago and later known as Clube do Cupim. It helped coordinate escapes toward Ceará through routes...

A meeting record cited by historians lists 96$000 réis paid for twelve passage fares. Club correspondence used coded terms such as “Englishmen” for enslaved people escaping toward Ceará. This...

To mark one year since Ceará abolished slavery, Ave Libertas organized a public celebration in Recife with a civic procession, music, religious ceremony, and speeches. At the theater, several...

The Jornal do Recife reported a visit by Joaquim Nabuco to the Ave Libertas board. He brought two letters of manumission, for enslaved women named Isabel and Maria. The episode shows a relationship...