Book, Massacre of the Freedmen, O: on race and the Republic in Brazil[LS]

History is always the result of a choice. Certain episodes are illuminated, others are clouded, there is always a present to support with the facts of the past. The future, however, is irremediably associated with the past, which needs to be reviewed and re-explored so that we can move forward. The Massacre of the Freedmen brings back to Brazilians the historical violence of racism and slavery in Brazil based on two seminal facts: the Abolition of Slavery and the Proclamation of the Republic. And it narrates the massacre of black people who protested in São Luiz do Maranhão, fearing that the newly constituted Republic would take away their recently won freedom. From this episode, the text provides an overview of the racist reactions that were formed and incorporated into the strategies of white masters to perpetuate prejudice and marginalization of the white population through the myth of “racial fraternity”. On November 17, 1889, the city of São Luís woke up in agitation. No one knew what to think of the latest news, coming from Rio de Janeiro, which reported the end of the long reign of the Brazilian Monarchy. […] The following morning, only the republican newspaper O Globo had reported the fact, through the publication of a telegram received by the editor of the periodical […]. It wasn't long ago that the capital of Maranhão was taken over by parties and processions of black people, popular people, students and politicians, in honor of the definitive abolition of slavery – the 13th of May 1888, which had changed the entire economic and social structure of Brazil. . […] In this situation of institutional disorganization, the so-called Massacre of November 17th took place. A crowd of people, described as “freedmen”, “men of color”, “citizens of the 13th of May” and “former slaves” took to the streets in a large march, in protest against the news of the proclamation of the Republic. In the protesters' view, the new regime was coming to restore slavery in the country.