É preta, é preto em todo canto da cidade: história e imprensa na São Luís/MA (1820 - 1850)

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to analyze and understand how the constitution of the city of São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil, happened. A city immersed in the relationship between white slaveholders, men and women, and enslaved black Africans, men and women, in the first half of the 19th century, especially from 1820 to 1850. As well as, to discuss the formation of the press in the capital of Maranhão, following the newspaper Publicador Maranhense (1842-1880) to verify and analyze from 1842 to 1850 the presence of black workers in it. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the city of São Luís was the main district of the province of Maranhão. Its founding and constitution, as well as many cities in Brazil and in the Americas, came about through the exploratory use of black workers which had taken place since the 17th century. Among the topics discussed in the thesis we can mention: a historiographical debate on Brazilian slavery, a study on the constitution of the city of São Luís do Maranhão, and the influence and participation of Africans and their descendants in the formation of the city of São Luís local society, the municipality was already known as a very black city in the year of 1820. It was sought to find the black working enslaved women and men in diverse historical sources like: Passports and documents produced by the police department, post-mortem Inventories and Testaments, even though, privileging a newspaper as its main source. Tracing a path through Social History, we seek to examine not only black enslaved men, but also black enslaved women.