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Jacinto Ventura de Molina: A Black Letrado in a White World of Letters, 1766–1841

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

William G. Acree Jr.
William G. Acree Jr.*
Affiliation:
Washington University in St. Louis
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Abstract

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Born free in 1766 along the American frontier separating the Spanish and Portuguese empires, the Afro-descendant Jacinto Ventura de Molina grew up to become a tireless writer of history, religious philosophy, and petitions for black nations and poor residents in Montevideo, Uruguay. After serving in black militias in the early 1800s and working as a shoemaker, he began a long career as a lawyer and was recognized with the title “defender of the poor.” Most impressive about this little-known prolific writer was that he operated in and moved between different social registers and contexts. He was a black letrado working in a white world of letters and knew well how to navigate multiple discourses and manipulate codes of the lettered city. His personality led in part to his popularity in 1820s and 1830s Montevideo. But he was best known for his writing, which spurred attacks from several contemporaries.

Resumo

Resumo

Nacido libre en 1766 en la frontera sur entre los imperios español y portugués, el afrodescendiente Jacinto Ventura de Molina llegó a ser un infatigable escritor de historia, filosofía religiosa y peticiones para las salas de nación y residentes pobres en Montevideo. Luego de trabajar como zapatero y de servir como soldado en milicias de negros a principios de los 1800, comenzó su larga carrera como abogado, siendo reconocido con el título “defensor de los pobres”. Lo que más nos impresiona de este poco conocido escritor prolífico es que trabajaba y se movía en distintos registros sociales. Fue un letrado negro que operaba en el mundo blanco de las letras y que sabía bien navegar los códigos y manipular los discursos de la ciudad letrada. Su personalidad excéntrica le ganó fama en Montevideo durante las décadas de 1820 y 1830. Pero fue más conocido por su escritura que generó odio y ataques de sus contemporáneos.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , 2009 , pp. 37 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

I am grateful to LARR's three anonymous reviewers and several colleagues, in particular Reid Andrews, Alex Borucki, and Jim Gerber, for their insightful comments on a previous version of this article and for suggesting valuable sources to incorporate. Research for this project was made possible by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education and a summer research fellowship from the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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