African Culture in Rio Grande do Sul refers to the history, attributes, and values of Afro-Brazilian culture in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Black people were trafficked in the state as slaves in the early 18th century. In the early days, they were mainly forced to labor in the charqueadas, but soon began to work in a variety of manual labor jobs in the countryside and the cities, participating decisively in the consolidation of the regional economy, as well as playing an important role in military operations.
However, subject to frequent mistreatment, seen as mere merchandise and as a labor force that could be over exploited and had a low quality of life. After the abolition of slavery in 1888, they began a slow process of recovering their dignity and valuing their origins and customs, a process made difficult by the great prejudice that existed and still exists against African descendants.
Overview Contrary to the myths constructed by older historiography, the black presence in the state was significant from the beginning, although remaining a minority. In the same way, the culture developed by African descendants in Rio Grande do Sul has made an important contribution to the formation of the state's culture and society. The black movement in Rio Grande do Sul has managed to gain growing space and has made important achievements at multiple levels.
The Black presence in Rio Grande do Sul
As part of the former Kingdom of Portugal and later the Empire of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul shared with the other parts of the country the slave culture introduced since the early days of Portuguese colonization. The presence of black slaves is attested in the state since the beginning of the 18th century when the territory began to be conquered from Spain, which was the original owner of these lands by the Treaty of Tordesillas. Between 1725 and 1727, a group led by the Portuguese João de Magalhães, mostly composed of slaves, was assigned to protect the Lagoa dos Patos, to establish a registry to collect taxes on cattle going to Laguna and to make alliances with the Indians.
In 1727, sergeant-major Francisco de Souza Faria opened with the help of slaves a road through the Serra do Nordeste to facilitate the passage of cattle from the south to the markets in the center of the country. They also participated in the expedition commanded by Brigadier José da Silva Pais to found the Jesus, Maria, José Fort in 1737, at Barra de Rio Grande. 190 slaves accompanied the Demarcator Army, in charge of implementing the territorial determinations established by the Madrid Treaty of 1750, and others arrived along with the Azorean settlers. It is likely, however, that they appeared much earlier, along with the exploratory expeditions of bandeirantes and tropeiros that had been occurring since the 17th century.
In the 18th century, slaves were mainly employed in the cattle ranches that were being founded. In 1780, 5,102 slaves were registered in the state, about 29% of the total population, not including the freed ones. From the first decade of the 19th century on, their presence more than doubled, as the charqueadas became the main economic activity of the province and demanded more labor. According to Gitibá Faustino, "the gold exploration in Minas Gerais, in the 18th century, had fundamental importance in the development of the gauchoThe term gaucho was originally used to refer to Indian horsemen, cattle smugglers and ranch peons, but has expanded to include all the inhabitants of the Rio Grande do Sul state, whose early history is closely linked to the ranching culture. In this article, gaucho refers to the former and Gaúcho to the latter. charqueadas, which became the supplying source of meat for the auriferous region."
Most of the kidnapped Africans came from Rio de Janeiro, entering through the port of Rio Grande. According to Gabriel Berute, 71% were captured in West-Central Africa (mainly Benguela and Angola), 26% in West Africa and the rest in East Africa. The majority were adult males. In the 1830s, the slave trade began to suffer progressive restrictions, but there is evidence that it continued clandestinely, although minimized. In this century their presence is also recorded in the region of Missões and Vale do Rio dos Sinos, and they were already numerous in the largest urban centers (Porto Alegre, Rio Grande, Pelotas), performing various functions and trade. Still, their largest concentration remained in the countryside, linked to farming activities.
Slaves had a high demand in wartime; during the Ragamuffin War (1835-1845), when they made up more than a third of the rebellious forces, together with mestizos, Indians, and runaway slaves from Uruguay, they played a relevant role, especially the black lancers ("lanceiros negros"), battalions made up of freed slaves who were decimated in the Porongos Massacre, an episode that has become emblematic and has fueled an extensive debate. A considerable mestizo population also began to form. The black and mixed-race contingent formed in the state was large: In the 1814 census, there were more non-whites than whites; at the abolition of slavery in 1888, the state was the sixth in the country in number of slaves. In Pelotas, for example, black and mixed-race people made up 30.7% of the population, and in Rio Grande, 27.4%. This labor force was responsible for much of the state's economic emancipation process, mainly due to its massive presence in the charqueadas, which until the late 19th century were the largest source of foreign exchange. Currently, African descendants make up about 20% of the Gaúcho population, and have contributed significantly to multiple areas of culture and society.
Cultural flourishing
It was in the cities, especially in Porto Alegre, that blacks began to rehearse forms of resistance to white domination, and the quilombos, formed with runaway slaves, would play an important role in the preservation of their history, culture, identity and in the struggles for freedom. Some individuals began to accumulate a modest patrimony, for instance, when they were slaves "for hire", rented to others to provide services but being able to keep a small part of the profits. Research by Paulo Roberto Moreira showed that in the 19th century more than ten thousand manumissions were granted in Porto Alegre, and about 37% of them were paid by the slaves themselves, but only 19.23% were free, meaning they did not impose any conditional bond or obligation. The vast majority required work until the death of the master, or for a set period before being effective.
Some gained social recognition, especially the manumissioned, who could dedicate themselves to independent trades suffering less prejudice. Of note is the case of Inácio José Filgueira, a mulatto who bought his manumission and was able to occupy for many years, in the early 19th century, the position of kapellmeister of the Old Mother Church of Porto Alegre, but, typically, not without facing constant opposition. Studying the case of Pelotas, but reflecting a general reality, Beatriz Loner stated:
Many slaves in Porto Alegre, however, were allowed to live in houses of their own, and could rent rooms, making extra income. Several ghettos were formed in the city, where the black and mixed-race population was concentrated. The Cidade Baixa was one of the main ones. In other centers, such as Rio Grande and Pelotas, a similar process occurred. In these nuclei a distinct culture was born, marked by traditions brought from Africa, usually mixed with white culture, and expressed mainly in celebrations and religious cults. It resulted in the formation of a large number of black societies (or black social clubs), with dancing, theatrical, musical, recreational, welfare, sports, artistic, educational and mutual aid purposes. These societies evidenced the existence of a process of professional and intellectual qualification of blacks.
In the religious field, since the XIX century cults of African matrix have been registered in the state, and currently Rio Grande do Sul is the state where African manifestations have the greatest acceptance in Brazil, surpassing even Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, attracting interested people from all social layers, with some forms of wide penetration such as Batuque, Umbanda and Linha Cruzada, which share elements with similar ones in Brazil but have developed their own characteristics, and which Ari Pedro Oro calls "African-Gaúchas religions", besides more localized manifestations such as the Mozambique of Osório, the Quicumbi of Rio Pardo and the Ensaios of Mostardas. They also left their mark on the traditional Catholic cult. In almost all cities of relative importance, in the 19th century, Catholic brotherhoods of black and brown people were formed, giving birth to differentiated traditions. The Rosário brotherhoods stood out, founders of several churches, contributing to softening prejudices and valuing blacks as "good people."
African-Gaúcha culture took shape: Street festivals as Carnival had a massive black presence. Music flourished in sambas, choros, marches, and romantic songs, later producing personalities of great projection. The regional vocabulary contains hundreds of words of black origin. They also contributed with games, legends, cuisine, and sayings, such as "The axe forgets; the tree remembers," and "The horse that arrives early drinks the good water."
Whitening processes and historiography of denial
Despite the flourishing of black culture in the state, African-descendant groups interacted with difficulty with white society and tended to remain in "separate worlds". There was since the early days of slavery, an effort by officialdom to convert blacks to the dominant culture, a deliberate effort at cultural whitening, especially after the abolition of slavery, and the erasure of black memory. The introduction of large waves of German and Italian settlers in the 19th century was an important part of the attempt to whiten southern society, and the arrival of these settlers caused blacks to lose space, be considered less skilled, less healthy, and lower morality workers.
The abolition of slavery did not change their situation for the better, and they began to live in sub-employment and sub-housing, without basic conditions of education, health, and sanitation. According to José Antônio dos Santos,
Theories of racial improvement and searches for rational explanations for racism, such as those advocated by Nina Rodrigues and Oliveira Vianna, which achieved considerable repercussion at the time, discouraged mestizaje or preached the cultural, intellectual and genetic inferiority of the Black. During the Getúlio Vargas government, the nationalist campaign of compulsory "sociocultural cysts" to homogenize society, erasing ethnic-cultural differences, aggravated the situation. In the words of Patrícia da Silva Pereira:
Throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century, programs of urban sanitation and urban modernization sought to drive blacks to the outskirts of the cities. In Porto Alegre, in the 1950s, entire black communities, such as those of Cabo Rocha, Ilhota, Colônia Africana, and Areal da Baronesa, were removed from the center and sent to peripheral areas, forming neighborhoods such as Restinga and Vila Jardim.