A manumission report reveals unequal terms of freedom

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...

A dated list records twenty-seven enslaved people fleeing from thirteen sugar estates across at least eight Pernambuco localities. It lists twenty men and seven women, aged fifteen to fifty-six, and...

A letter signed “Um caifaz” and titled “Bem feito” recounted the capture and punishment of a captain of the bush who had searched for fugitives. The episode is reported in a partisan newspaper and...

A Redempção used satire to ridicule fugitive catchers and describe free people being reduced to slavery. The issue challenged the everyday policing that could blur the boundary between enslaved and...

José do Patrocínio launched Cidade do Rio as a daily newspaper and a platform for abolitionist arguments. He chose 28 September, the anniversary of the Free Womb Law, as its first publication date....

In a petition dated 25 October 1887, the Clube Militar asked Princess Regent Isabel not to use the Army to pursue people escaping slavery. The request challenged the military’s role in enforcing...

A Redempção argued that mass escapes and the “cleansing” of plantations had led enslavers to abandon claims over enslaved people. The editorial treats collective flight as a force that made the...