Abolitionist print links freedom to political rupture

The first issue of A Redempção began a recurring “Crônica de Anos” column that named captains of the bush and other agents of recapture. Its editor, Antônio Bento, made the paper part of an...

A Redempção reported that police at Jundiaí had ordered Black passengers off a train on the basis of race, treating Black mobility as grounds for suspicion. The account makes railway travel a...

In another “Crônica de Anos,” A Redempção listed people it identified as fugitive catchers. Naming these agents challenged the anonymity and local legitimacy of slave-catching. The newspaper was a...

The paper’s “Álbum abolicionista” recorded three manumissions. This section preserved details of individual acts of freedom, but its publication does not mean that every person could secure release on...

The January 20 issue continued to identify local figures involved in recapture and defended its abolitionist orientation. In a society where enslavers and their agents used law, police, and private...

A “Crônica Negra” account described severe working conditions and bodily violence, including iron restraints and punishment. Such reporting challenged narratives of benevolent mastery and brought...

In “O Africano é livre,” A Redempção advanced a legal argument based on the 1831 prohibition of the transatlantic slave trade to challenge the enslavement of Africans. Abolitionists used the law’s...

A March “Crônica Negra” described people forced to work on Sundays and subjected to iron restraints, hunger, and punishment in Campinas. Reporting such conditions confronted the claim that enslavers...

The “Álbum abolicionista” reported 56 manumissions associated with Anna Eufrosina and Domingos Leite Penteado, while the terms required four additional years of service. The distinction matters: a...

The “Álbum abolicionista” reported Rita’s manumission without a future-service condition. Publishing this case alongside conditional releases made the difference between formal freedom and freedom...