The Last Abolition: The Brazilian Antislavery Movement, 1868–1888

"Yes, she’s a sociologist. She works in this intersection between history and sociology. The important contribution of this book is that it focuses on the movement for abolition in Brazil as a social movement, which with her background in sociology is interesting. It covers the years 1868 to 1888 which is the moment when the abolitionist movement started in Brazil, and goes up to when slavery was finally abolished. The book shows how this movement in Brazil emerged very late: she compares this timeline with Britain or even with the United States when it starts in the late 18th century. In Brazil, as an organized movement, it only starts by the middle of the 19th century. She is able to show how we had people of different backgrounds engaging in this movement to abolish slavery in Brazil. There were the Afro-Brazilian activists. Some of them were journalists, others were public figures who had ancestors who were enslaved. Many of them had an important presence in the press. These abolitionists built alliances with different groups in Brazilian society, including the poor who were not necessarily descendants of enslaved people. This group was also in dialogue with abolitionists in other parts of the globe because at this point Brazil, along with Cuba , was the only slave society that was still in existence. So, they were in dialogue with abolitionists in the United States and in Europe . She shows the different methods they used to fight for the end of slavery. In many ways, it is also an intellectual history because these abolitionists were active in publishing newspapers. They created societies that published important pamphlets and other written texts. They were also active in theater and other kinds of performances that brought the abolitionist movement to a larger number of people in Brazilian society. Moreover, it was a movement that emerged in urban areas, in particular Rio de Janeiro, which was the headquarters of the government back in the time when Brazil was still a monarchy. So, a lot was going on in the capital. It’s these interactions that she brings out in the book. That’s hard to answer. First, it’s because Brazil was a society that really relied on slavery since the beginning. It wasn’t like in the United States, for example, where plantations were much more concentrated in the south and there was a gradual abolition. In Brazil, slavery was widespread—in urban areas, in rural areas where plantations existed and in the mines. It was an institution that existed across the country. Also, it was an institution that was still profitable during the 19th century. The 19th century was when Brazil was having a phase that we call ‘second slavery.’ It was a revival of slavery associated with the development of new technologies. The coffee plantations were very important during this period and the main driver of profits of slavery. Many of these slaveholders were also associated with the elites of the country, which was still a monarchy. The monarchy that held the country together allowed these elites to hold power, even if they were a minority. This is how Brazil was able to stay backwards, keeping the institution of slavery for so long, among others."