Affection and Solidarity among 19th-Century Black Intellectuals in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo

Brazil had the largest population of free and freed Black people on the continent, starting in the early 19th century, despite being the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery. The 1872 General Census of the Empire reported that six out of every ten Black or brown people could claim a series of rights associated with citizenship by virtue of not being enslaved. These included some individuals who were literate and active in the cultural and political spaces in which plans for the country’s present and future were drawn up. Especially in the second half of the 19th century, a time of deepening crisis for the slaveholding system, individuals such as José Ferreira de Menezes, Luiz Gama, Machado de Assis, José do Patrocínio, Ignácio de Araújo Lima, Arthur Carlos, and Theophilo Dias de Castro, all of whom were born free and resided in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, invested in their individual aspirations but also joined groups that defended the citizenship rights of free, freed, and enslaved Black people. Facing daily experiences of “color prejudice,” they not only participated in debates waged in the abolitionist, Black, literary, and general press, but they also played leading roles in the creation of mechanisms and instruments of resistance, confrontation, and dialogue. Although this aspect has not received much attention in recent historical accounts that recognize their existences, these and other Black intellectuals developed bonds of affection and solidarity over the course of their careers. To reflect on the scope of this shared racial identity in the latter 19th century and the possible impact of these ties on public positions taken by Black intellectuals, the demonstrations of friendship and companionship experienced by these individuals are traced, as well as by some others. An exercise in approaching the traces of different practices surrounding the politicization of race is given, and paths for future research on the social history of ideas and antiracism in Brazil are suggested.

To “Suffer Severely from Injustice”

With other turn-of-the-century Black intellectuals, Charles Chesnutt remained skeptical about the putative value of both human suffering and emotionally restrained and distanced responses to it. As a self-identified realist writing about race relations both during slavery and after Reconstruction, Chesnutt could not have ignored suffering altogether, yet representing it risked inadvertently perpetuating pernicious contemporary myths about Black inurement to pain. The challenge for Chesnutt across a range of fictional genres was to get a predominantly white audience to finally see Black suffering that they otherwise routinely ignore, discount, or deny. Upending racialized sensitivity hierarchies, Chesnutt flips the racist script that casts white people as sensitive to pain and Black people as insensitive to it. He also associates civilized superiority not simply with a remarkable sensitivity to suffering but with an even rarer inclination to respond altruistically even on behalf of those from whom the respondent feels demonstrably distanced.

DECOLONIAL PROJECT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE THEORIES OF CURRICULUM

This article has the goal of establishing an interface between decolonity and curriculum with the intent of thinking and creating other epistemic places on educational theories and practices. It discusses the contributions of decoloniality for the elaboration of a new curriculum to raise awareness on identities and experiences of social groups historically subordinate by the colonization of power, of being, and knowledge. Also, it highlights the protagonism of black intellectuals from Brazil, especially the theory of black feminism, in the proposition of the decolonial turning point in a context that lacks debates about it as a theory academically legitimized. Furthermore, it points out the potentialities of a decolonized curriculum to think about other possibilities of knowledge and for a pedagogy that is not subservient and surrendered by Euro-centered and colonizing ways of thinking

The Education That Is Their Due

Chapter 2 identifies a distinct uptick in northern Black support for separate schools. The rise of scientific racism fueled anti-Black discrimination that accelerated alongside the first Great Migration and the Great Depression. Hostile whites segregated classrooms and buildings in defiance of state law as Black populations increased. At the same time, there is compelling evidence from New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan that Black families either passively accepted or actively requested separate classrooms and schools in order to access Black teachers. Many Black northerners believed separate schools would offer a higher quality education and more of the teaching and administrative jobs that sustained the Black middle class. Still, this position was far from universal, and many northern Black communities energetically resisted school segregation. A growing number of Black intellectuals and civil rights activists vehemently objected to any form of state-sponsored segregation and campaigned actively for school integration.

Violence/Accommodation Binary in Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition

The present paper examines the divergent attitudes of black characters toward racism in Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Traditions (1901). Chesnutt wrote his novel to reflect his opinions on how African Americans should act to improve their situation. To situate the study within the historical and cultural context of Marrow, Black intellectuals’ views, namely Washington and Du Bois, about the complicated problem of ‘color’ were explored. To analyze the contrasting views and actions of Chesnutt’s black characters, the paper uses the lens of postcolonial theory. Although Marrow is not set within a colonial context, postcolonial theoretical frameworks can be used as models to re-read this novel because they deal with intersections of races, classes, cultures, and the oppressor/ oppressed relationship. The paper concludes that Chesnutt has entertained the possibility of a hybrid or third race— as referred to within postcolonial framework—that may succeed where both races (pure white and black) have failed.

Violence/Accommodation Binary in Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition

The present paper examines the divergent attitudes of black characters toward racism in Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Traditions (1901). Chesnutt wrote his novel to reflect his opinions on how African Americans should act to improve their situation. To situate the study within the historical and cultural context of Marrow, Black intellectuals’ views, namely Washington and Du Bois, about the complicated problem of ‘color’ were explored. To analyze the contrasting views and actions of Chesnutt’s black characters, the paper uses the lens of postcolonial theory. Although Marrow is not set within a colonial context, postcolonial theoretical frameworks can be used as models to re-read this novel because they deal with intersections of races, classes, cultures, and the oppressor/ oppressed relationship. The paper concludes that Chesnutt has entertained the possibility of a hybrid or third race— as referred to within postcolonial framework—that may succeed where both races (pure white and black) have failed.

From Black Consciousness to Consciousness of Blackness

This essay argues for a revision of Black Consciousness philosophy to make it more consistent with the requirements of South Africa’s constitutional democracy and relevant to the aspirations of young people in South Africa and the Global South. The philosophy was founded within an oppressive racist society, and while it defined blackness in terms of the legal oppression of Black people, those conditions no longer exist in South Africa. On the contrary, the South African constitution adopted both the inclusive view of Black people as Africans, Indians, and Coloureds, and expressly forbids racial or other forms of discrimination. The new political and constitutional setting thus demands a new articulation of blackness as a set of historical values that emanate from the experience of oppression. These values were expressed by Black intellectuals during self-reliant development and struggles against racism and can form the basis for reshaping racial identities in the Global South.

NEABs e a Proposição de Educação para as Relações Étnico-raciais

RESUMOO artigo objetiva apresentar e discutir como os Núcleos de Estudos AfroBrasileiros estão se configurando como espaços formativos estratégicos para o desenvolvimento de propostas orientadas para reeducação das relações étnicoraciais. O artigo estrutura-se em 3 partes. A primeira apresenta o contexto de ampliação dos NEABs. Para tanto, é elencado um conjunto de iniciativas de combate ao racismo, que foram implementadas a partir das primeiras décadas do século XXI. A segunda parte é dedicada à compreensão da articulação entre os NEABs, a Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores Negros – ABPN e o Consórcio de NEABs – CONNEABs, assim como a caracterização dos núcleos. A terceira parte dedica-se a discussão sobre as contribuições dos Núcleos de Estudos Afro-Brasileiros para as ações orientadas para a reeducação das relações étnico-raciais. Um conjunto de fragmentos de entrevistas de intelectuais negras e negros envolvidas(os) nas atividades dos NEABs é evidenciado.Ações Afirmativas. Núcleo de Estudos Afro-Brasileiros. Educação. Relações étnico-raciais. ABSTRACTThis article aims to present and discuss how the Afro-Brazilian Studies Centers are configuring themselves as strategic training spaces for the development of proposals aimed at re-education of ethnic-racial relations. The article is structured in 3 parts. The first presents the context for the expansion of NEABs. To this end, a set of initiatives to combat racism is listed, which were implemented from the first decades of the 21st century. The second part is dedicated to understanding the articulation between the NEABs, the Brazilian Association of Black Researchers - ABPN and the NEABs Consortium - CONNEABs, as well as the characterization of the nuclei. The third part is dedicated to the discussion about the contributions of the Afro-Brazilian Studies Centers to actions oriented towards the re-education of ethnic-racial relations. A set of fragments of interviews by black and black intellectuals involved in the activities of the NEABs is evidenced.Affirmative Actions. Afro-Brazilian Studies Center. Education. Ethnic-racial relations. RESUMENEl artículo tiene como objetivo presentar y discutir cómo los “Núcleos de Estudos Afro-Brasileiros” se configuran como espacios de formación estratégicos para el desarrollo de propuestas orientadas a reeducación de las relaciones étnicoraciales. El artículo está estructurado en 3 partes. La primera presenta el contexto de expansión de los NEAB. De esa manera, se enumera un conjunto de iniciativas para combatir el racismo, que se implementaron desde las primeras décadas del siglo XXI. La segunda parte está dedicada a comprender la articulación entre los NEAB, la “Associação Brasileira de Investigadores Negros” - ABPN y el “Consórcio NEABs – CONNEABs”, así como la caracterización de los núcleos. La tercera parte está dedicada a la discusión sobre las contribuciones de los “Núcleos de Estudos Afro-Brasileiros” a las acciones orientadas a la reeducación de las relaciones étnico-raciales. Se destaca un conjunto de fragmentos de entrevistas de intelectuales negras y negros involucrados en las actividades de los NEAB.Acciones afirmativas. Núcleo de Estudos Afro-Brasileiros. Educación. Relaciones étnico-raciales. SOMMARIOL'articolo si propone di presentare e discutere come i "Nuclei di studi afrobrasiliani" si configurano come spazi strategici di formazione per lo sviluppo di proposte volte alla rieducazione delle relazioni etnico-razziali. L'articolo è strutturato in 3 parti. La prima presenta il contesto di espansione dei NEAB. In questo modo vengono elencate una serie di iniziative per combattere il razzismo, che sono state attuate sin dai primi decenni del 21 ° secolo. La seconda parte è dedicata alla comprensione dell'articolazione tra i NEAB, l '“Associação Brasileira de Investigadores Negros” - ABPN e il “Consortium NEABs - CONNEABs”, nonché la caratterizzazione dei nuclei. La terza parte è dedicata alla discussione sui contributi dei “Nuclei de Estudos Afro-Brasileiros” alle azioni finalizzate alla rieducazione delle relazioni etnico-razziali. Viene evidenziata una serie di frammenti di interviste ad intellettuali neri e neri coinvolti nelle attività del NEAB.Azioni affermative. Nucleo di studi afro-brasiliani. Formazione scolastica. Relazioni etnico-razziali.

PROCEDURE AS POLITICS IN THE CAPE COLONY: THE CAREER OF ANDREW GONTSHI, 1880–1904

In 1881, Andrew Gontshi became the first black law agent in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope and thus South Africa's first black lawyer. Records of court cases argued by Gontshi and his fellow black law agents provide a rich new archive for understanding the political sensibilities of the nineteenth-century Eastern Cape, where Gontshi practiced law and participated in the development of new forms of political organization, as well as the meaning of law to black intellectuals. In both law and politics, Andrew Gontshi employed procedural tactics to hold the state accountable to its own formalities. In Gontshi's world, law provided not a source of justice but a set of tools that could be used to advance a political agenda. Gontshi's story thus prompts a reconsideration of law's place in the intellectual tradition of South Africa's liberation struggle.