O horizonte de expectativas republicanas e as experiências educacionais dos negros em Minas Gerais na virada do século XIX para o século XX

Abstract

The present master's research is situated within the field of Work, Society, and Education, in the Postgraduate Program in Education at the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU). Its focus in the comprehension of the social integration of the black people through and within the educational system in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. The final decades of the 19th century, much like the early 20th century, marked a period of transitions and significant changes in Brazilian society. Among the most notable changes were the abolition of slavery (1888) and the Proclamation of the Republic (1889). Concurrently, urbanization expanded, giving rise to aspirations and expectations regarding the modernization of the country. The Brazilian demographic composition was diversified through immigration, as a mechanism to form the workforce in an emerging job market. This coincided with the liberation of the enslaved black population, following the abolition of slavery, leading to competition between the now-free black people and the non-black national contingent for occupations in the realm of production. The Republic inherited a considerable number of illiterate individuals from the Empire, perceived by the intellectuals and the State as an obstacle to Brazil's development. Consequently, education was assigned the role of eradicating illiteracy and regenerating the citizens lacking instruction for the emerging social order, characterized as free and competitive. The framework for constructing this text revolves around the racial issue, prompting the following inquiry: were the schooling and integration of black individuals a concern for the governments of the state of Minas Gerais in the post-abolition period? Were there direct actions addressing the specific social condition of black communities in the state, particularly concerning the education of black individuals? The aim of this research was to identify occurrences of governmental initiatives related to the integration of black people into the free and competitive social order and the educational process. The primary source utilized was the Presidential Messages from the Government of Minas Gerais, between 1891 and 1930. Methodologically, the research sought to comprehend and analyze the spaces of experiences and horizons of expectations present in different discursive positions (Koselleck, 2006), affirming a dialectical relationship between discourse and social structure (Fairclough, 2001). Consequently, we concluded that the sources remained silent on the integration of black individuals, frustrating expectations surrounding the Republic. However, the field of experiences reveals that, in various situations, black individuals developed forms of education and integration. In this case, silence is not synonymous with emptiness, with nonexistence.