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Africans and Slave Marriages in Eighteenth-century Rio de Janeiro

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2015

Flávio dos Santos Gomes
Flávio dos Santos Gomes*
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Extract

During slavery in the Americas, whether plantation, mining or urban, captives, Creoles, freedpersons and Africans invented various forms of socialization, in part through family arrangements. The slave family is one of the most prominent themes in recent studies of Brazilian slavery. Until the 1970s, several authors claimed that such families did not exist; however, contemporary studies have revised many of the arguments about slaves' experiences and daily lives. Based on statistical sources (post-mortem inventories, lists of names, population censuses, and parish records) historians have demonstrated that, despite their living conditions, workdays, specific demographics, illness, mortality, etc., a considerable part of die slave population was able to establish families and compadrio relations by employing various strategies.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , October 2010 , pp. 153 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2010

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References

Translated from the Portuguese by H. Sabrina Gledhill. This study was funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and is part of a larger project on Atlantic identities and demographics in Brazil. I would like to thank Mary Karasch and Barbara Sommer for their critical reading, as well as the external reviewers for The Americas.

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2. Compadrio is the close fictive kinship between christening godparents and marriage godparents (the equivalent of the best man and maid or matron of honor), and respectively the parents of the godchild or the married couple who are their “godchildren” (Translator’s Note [TN]). See, for example, among others: de Oliveira Burmeistcr, Ana Maria “A Nupcialidade em Curitiba no século XVIII,” Historia: Qttestoes & Debates, 2:2 (1981), pp. 63–68;Google Scholar Nero da Costa, Iraci Del & Gutierrez, Horácio “Notas sobre casamentos de escravos em Sào Paulo e no Paraná (1830),” Historia: Qttestoes & Debates, 5:9 (Dec. 1984), pp. 313–321;Google Scholar Nero da Costa, Iraci Del & Sienes, Robert Nizza da Silva, Maria Beatriz Sistema de casamento no Brasil Colonial (Sào Paulo: T.A. Queiroz Editor, Unesp, 1984), pp. 139–148;Google Scholar Schwartz, Stuart B. “A Familia escrava em Lorena (1801),” Estados Económicos, Sào Paulo, 17:2 (1987), pp. 245–295;Google Scholar Nero da Costa, Iraci Del & Vidal Luna, Francisco “Vila Rica: Nota sobre Casamentos de Escravos (1727–1826),” África. Sào Paulo, Centro de Estudos Africanos da USP, vol. 4 (1981), pp. 105–109;Google Scholar de Castro Paria, Sheila Siqueira A colònia em movimento. Fortuna e familia no cotidiano colonial (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1998);Google Scholar Garcia Florentino, Manolo & Robert Goés, José A paz das senzalas. Familias escravas e tráfico atlàntico, Rio de Janeiro, c. 1790-c. 1850 (Rio de Janeiro: Civilizaçào Brasileira, 1997);Google Scholar Guerzoni Filho, Gilberto & Roberto Netto, Luiz “Minas Gérais: índices de casamentos da populaçào livre e escrava na comarca do Rio das Mortes,” Estudos Económicos, Sào Paulo, 18:3 (Sep/Dec 1988), pp. 497–507;Google Scholar Metcalf, Alida “Vida familiar dos escravos em Sào Paulo no século XVIII: o caso de Santana de Parnaiba,” Estudos Económicos, 17:2 (1987), pp. 229–243;Google Scholar Flavio Motta, José “A Familia escrava c a penetraçào do café em Bananal, 1801–1829,” Revista Brasileira de Estudos de Populaçào, Sào Paulo, 5:1 (Jan/Dee 1987), pp. 71–101;Google Scholar Nizza da Silva, Maria Beatriz Marques “Casamentos de escravos na capitanía de Sào Paulo,” Ciencia & Cultura,Sào Paulo, 32:7 (July 1980), pp. 816–821,Google Scholar and Sienes, Robert W. “Escravidao e familia: padròes de casamentos e estabilidade familiar numa comunìdade escrava (Campinas, século XIX),” Estudos Económicos, 17:2 (1987), pp. 217–227.Google Scholar

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13. SeeAbreu’s, Mauricio references to Antonil, André Joào (Joào Antonio Andreoni, S.J. in Cultura e opulencia do Brasil. (3rd ed. Horizonte, Belo and Paulo, Sào: Itatiaia, Editora and de Sào Paulo, Editora da Universidade 1982 [1711]);Google Scholar Boxer, Charles R. Salvador de Sá e a luta pelo Brasil e Angola, 1602–1686 (Sào Paulo: Editora Nacional, Edusp. 1973)Google Scholar and Salvador, Vicente do (Frci), Historia do Brasil, 1500–1627 (7’th ed. Horizonte, Belo and Paulo, Sào: Ed. Itatiaia and Ed. de Sào Paulo, da Universidade 1982).Google Scholar

14. See Mauricio de Almeida Abreu, “Um quebra cabeça (quase) resolvido.”

15. In her study of the Inquisition's persecution of New Christians who owned several sugar plantations in the Guanabara bay area, Riva Gorenstein found records of property seized in the mid-seventeenth century, including 11 plantations with a total of 1,234 slaves. Cf. Heréticos e impuros. A Inquisiçâo e os cristâos-novos no Rio de Janeiro, século XVIII (Rio de Janeiro: Arquivo Geral da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro, 1995), pp. 63–64.

16. In the last decades of the eighteenth century, the number of plantations nearly tripled in Campos dos Goita-cazes, in the northern part of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, and there was a substantial increase in the enslaved African population. Cf. Hunold Lara, Silvia Campos da violencia. Escravos e senhores na Capitanía do Rio de Janeiro, 1750–1808 (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1988), pp. 134–145.Google Scholar

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22. Miller, Joseph “A economia política do tráfico angolano de escravos no século XVIII,” in Pantoja, Selma & Sombra Saraiva, José Flávio (eds.), Angola e Brasil nas rotas do Atlántico Sul (Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil, 1999), pp. 11–68.Google Scholar On the slave trade between the turn of the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries in Rio de Janeiro, see Fiorentini, Manolo Garcia Em costas negras: Um estudo sobre o tráfico atlántico de escravos para o porto do Rio de Janeiro, c.1790 -c.1830 (Sào Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1997)Google Scholar and KJcİn, Herbert “O tráfico de escravos africanos para o porto do Rio de Janeiro, 1825–1830,” in Anais de História (Sào Paulo: Assis, 1973), pp. 85–101 and “The Trade in African Slaves to Rio de Janeiro, 1795–1811,” in The Middle Passage (Comparative Studies in the Atlantic Slave Trade) (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), pp. 181–212.Google Scholar

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25. Cavalcanti’s sample of 60 inventories included 22 from the nineteenth century (36.6% of the total). For the period between 1744 and 1794, he used 17 inventories or 44.7% of the total sample of inventories for the eighteenth century and 28% of the overall sample.

26. Soares, Devotos da cor, p. 103 Google Scholar et scq.

27. Regarding African identities in Rio de Janeiro during the first half of the nineteenth century, see Karasch’s, May C. pioneering analysis in A vida dos escravos no Rio de Janeiro, 1808–1850 (Sào Paulo: Cia. das Letras, 2000), pp. 35–66.Google Scholar

28. Fragoso, A formaçào da economia colonial no Rio de Janeiro, and Sampaio, Na encruzilhada do Impèrio. Regarding changes in the city of Rio’s economy in the final decades of the eighteenth century, see Fragoso, Joào Homens degrossa aventura; Acumulaçâo e hierarquia na praça mercantil do Rio de Janeiro (1790–1830) (Rio de Janeiro: Arquivo Nacional, 1992)Google Scholar and Fragoso, Joào and Florentino, Manolo Garcia O arcaísmo como projeto. Mercado atlántico, sociedade agraria e elite mercantil no Rio de Janeiro, c.l790-c.l840 (Rio de Janeiro: Diadorim, 1993).Google Scholar

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30. “Relaçâo do Marques de Lavradio,” Revista do Instituto Histórico Geogràfico Brasileiro, vol. LXXVI, part I, Rio de Janeiro, Imprensa Nacional (1915), pp. 326–327.

31. Cf. “Mapa Geral das Cidades, Vilas e Freguesias que formam o corpo interior da Capitanía do Rio de Janeiro com declaraçào do número de seus templos, fogos, etc.,” Revista do Instituto Histórico Geografico Brasileiroy vol. XLVII, part I, Rio de Janeiro: Typographia Universal de H. Lacmmert e C. (1884), p. 27.

32. See Pares, Luis Nicolau “O processo de crioulizaçào no Recóncavo baiano (1750–1800),” Afro-Asia, Salvador, CEAO/UFBA, voi. 33 (2005), pp. 70–101.Google Scholar

33. Cf. “Mapa Geral das Cidades, Vilas e Freguesias,” p. 29.

34. One alqueire equals 36.27 liters (TN): “Relaçào do Marqués de Lavradio,” p. 329.

35. Fragoso, A formaçâo da economia colonial no Rio de Janeiro and Sampaİo, Na encruzilhada do Impèrio.

36. Costa, Nota sobre a posse de escravos, pp. 111–113.Google Scholar

37. That author also analyzes the structure of ownership of engenhocas. For a comparative perspective on the structure of slave ownership in colonial Brazil, see Schwartz, Segredos internos, pp. 356–376.Google Scholar. For other studies, see Barickman, Bert J. Urn contraponto baiano, pp. 237–252;Google Scholar Nero da Costa, Iraci del and Nozoe, Nelson Hideiki “Elementos da estrutura dc posse de escravos em Lorena no alvorecer do Século XIX,” Estudos Económicos, 19:2 (May/Aug 1989), pp. 319–345;Google Scholar Flavio Motta, José Corpos escravos, vontades livres. Posse de cativos e familia escrava em Bananal (1801–1829) (Sào Paulo: AnnaBlume/FAPSP, 1999), pp. 67–108.Google Scholar

38. dos Santos, Corcino Mcdeiros O Rio de Janeiro e a conjuntura atlántica (Rio de Janeiro: Expressào e Cultura, 1993), pp. 59–67.Google Scholar Regarding land occupation in Campo Grande at the turn of the eighteenth to nineteenth century, see Fridman, Fania Donos do Rio em nome do Ret. Urna historia fundiária da cidade do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Editor, Editora Garamond, 1999), pp. 145–174.Google Scholar

39. For eighteenth-century Santana de Parnaíba, Alida Metcalf uses parish records to analyze slave marriages between 1720 and 1820. There are 504 records of slave marriages, including 20% between slaves and free persons. Cf. Vida familiar dos escravos, pp. 229–243. See also, Nizza da Silva, Maria Beatriz Historia da familia no Brasil colonial (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1998), pp. 171–206.Google Scholar Often disregarded by studies of African slavery, there is abundant evidence of marriages between Amerindians, Africans, and Creoles—both slaves and freedpersons. In Rio de Janeiro in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there was a considerable indigenous population in the missionary villages of Mangara tiba and Itaguai, not far from Campo Grande. See Celestino de Almeida, Maria Regina Metamoforscs indígenas: Iden-tidade e cultura nas aldeias colonials do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro: Arquivo Nacional, 2003), p. 88 Google Scholaret seq. On the use of indigenous labor in Rio de Janeiro in the second half of the sixteenth century, see Neme, Sálete Mño-de-obra indígena do Rio de Janeiro: século XVI (Rio de Janeiro: UFRJ, 1990), pp. 92–99.Google Scholar

40. Sienes, Escravidâo e familia, pp. 217–228.Google Scholar

41. Schwartz, Segredos internos, pp. 356–376.Google Scholar

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43. Faria, A colonia em movimento and Sienes, Na senzala, uma flor.

44. Sweet, Recreating Africa, p. 26.Google Scholar

45. Ibid., pp. 45–46.

46. Based on information found İn the General Maps, or population censuses, of Sào Paulo and Parana in 1830, Costa and Gutiérrez have analyzed slave marriages showing that the rates for such unions in those two provinces were 22.3% and 17.5% respectively. Cf. Costa, and Gutierrez, Nota sobre casamentos de escravos, pp. 313–321.Google Scholar

47. Regarding witnesses to marriages, the Constituiçöes Primeİras stated: “According to the decree of the Sacred Council of Trent, in order to be valid, a marriage must be celebrated in the presence of the Parish Priest or another Priest with his authorization, or the Ordinary [of the Mass], in the presence of two or three witnesses. Anyone who should wish to marry in any other fashion are considered by the same Council to be unqualified, and such contracts will be judged and declared to that effect, extending to the Parish Priest himself, and either of the parties, as long as they are not a Priest. However, those who have authorization, our [authorization to perform marriages], must be a Priest, and any assistance they provide must be moral and humane, so that he and the witnesses understand the mutual consent of the parties in order to witness to this with certainty, and therefore they must be of sound mind and understand the act they are witnessing” Constituiçöes Primeiras do Arcebispado da Bahia, Lisbon, 1719, fis. 129.

48. In Brazil, there are few cases where masters stood as godparents when their own slaves were christened. Cf. Gudeman, Stephen & Schwartz, Stuart B. “Purgando o pecado original: Compadrio e batismo de escravos na Bahia no século XVIII,” in José Reis, Joào Escravidâo e invençâo da liberdade. Estudos sobre o negro no Brasil (Sào Paulo: Brasiliense, 1988), pp. 33–59.Google Scholar

49. Arquivo Nacional, Cx. 3763, no. 97.

50. Arquivo Nacional, Cx. 3636, no. 10.

51. Cf. Silva Silveira, Alessandra da “Sacopema, Capoeiras e Nazareth. Estudos sobre a formaçâo da familia escrava em engenhos do Rio de Janeiro do século XVIII,” MA Thesis in History, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 1997.Google Scholar

52. Arquivo Nacional, 25, Cx. 3763 (1815–1822), inventory of Major Jose Cardoso dos Santos, p. 89.

53. For an important study based on the method of comparing names in different sources to analyze the daily lives of slaves and their families on the basis of senzalas, see Slenes, Robert W. “Senhores e subalternos no Oeste Paulista,” in de Alencastro, Luiz Felipe (org.), Historia da Vida Privada no Brasil. Imperio: a corte e a modernidade nacional (Sào Paulo: Cia. Das Letras, 1991), pp. 233–290, particularly pp. 270–271.Google Scholar

54. Cf. Slenes, Na senzala, uma flor, p. 13.Google Scholar