STUDENTS OF ABOLITIONIST LITERATURE frequently forget that antislavery campaign in New World was waged in two Americas, and more specifically in two countries where institution of slavery left its most visible mark-the United States and Brazil. Even more neglected have been Abolitionist poems and songs of these two cultures. It is to this lyrical aspect of Abolitionism that I wish to devote my attention in this present study which does not pretend to exhaust subject, but simply aims at highlighting certain aspects of Brazilian Abolitionist poetry as it contrasts with New England Abolitionist experience in verse and song. In case of Brazil, one pioneer poet towers above all rest, Antonio de Castro Alves (1847-1871), the poet of slaves, whose spread-eagle oratorical condor style represents last phase of a socially-minded Brazilian romanticism called condoreirismo. Committing himself wholeheartedly to cause of emancipation, Castro Alves through his antislavery poems became model for a whole generation of less talented Abolitionist poets. As for New England poets, I have limited myself to John Greenleaf Whittier's Anti-Slavery Poems and, to a lesser degree, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Poems of Slavery as well as lyrics of some forty-six (46) antislavery songs collected and compiled by William W. Brown and published in Boston in 1854 under title of Anti-Slavery Harp. It should be made clear from outset that my objective is not to comment on sources or establish any influence of New England poets on Brazilian condor-bard, but rather to point out certain cultural differences in handling of Abolitionist theme in general and delineation of plight of slave in particular. By way of introduction, one overriding difference should be kept in mind, namely, that while Abolitionist campaign in United States ultimately ended in bloodshed culminating in Civil War, such was not case in Brazil. In latter country, abolition of slavery was simply one important step in transition from a monarchy to a republic as well as economic transformation of a slavocratic society into a modern free-labor society. The real war in Brazil was a polemical one with strong economic implications in which poets, the conscience of nation, played a role of prime importance in making urban classes sensitive to incongruity of slavery with Brazil's expanding economy and grandiose aspirations.' Although slavetrade had been abolished in 1850 due to British pressure, Abolitionist campaign in Brazil did not get started in a sustained manner until March 5, 1879 when Jer6nimo Sodr6 Pereira, a deputy from Bahia, made an anti-slavery speech in Chamber of Deputies warning country of volcano which institution of slavery represented, about to erupt at any moment on Brazilian society. After two half-hearted legislative attempts, first as early as 1871 with passage of Rio Branco Law (Law of Free Birth) which in principle freed children born of slave mothers, and second in 1885, Saraiva-Cotegipe Law, freeing all slaves over age sixty, nine-year campaign waged in press and in Chamber and Senate only concluded definitively on May 13, 1888 when Princess Regent Isabel, Redemptoress, signed Golden Law, abolishing slavery once and for all without compensation to slave owners. In their polemical battles, Brazilian Abolitionists were keenly aware of North American experience and frequently alluded in minutest detail to Abolitionist campaign,
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Nov 8, 2024
Juliana Carvalho De Araujo De Barros + 1
Open Access
