The education of black people in historical perspective: the particularities of Southern Brazil

• In Event: Minorías y grupos marginalizados en educación

Abstract

This study seeks to discuss historically the access of black people to formal schooling, based on experiences found in southern Brazil. These reflections contribute to think about black citizenship, because since from 1881, political activity in Brazil became conditioned by literacy. This was also a period of social transformation as the Brazilian State was preparing for the liberation of thousands of slaves, establishing measures that would ensure the supply of labor and social order. In this process, the encouragement of European immigration and educational policies played an important role, in the authorities' view, were thus consolidated as ideals in the ongoing nation project, for the moral benefits that could awaken in the social whole. However, in practical terms, the State's policies for implementing this project were never successful, leaving the overwhelming majority of the population without access to schools, thus with limited electoral participation. In this study, we followed groups of slaves and their descendants who, despite the unfavorable context, were able to access the literacy, either attending public night schools, or private, through the creation of schools in black workers' associations in the period of post-emancipation. These experiences presented particularities because they did not reach the majority of the enslaveds and freeds, because were conditioned to criteria of gender, age, occupation and region. Nevertheless these stories show the perception of education as a right and the desire for inclusion in the free society then under construction.

Author

• Noemi Santos S Silva