Cidadania por um fio: o caso Castro Malta (1884-1885) das páginas de jornais para a sala de aula

Abstract

The following work aims to analyse how the press can be used as a historical source and as a tool for teaching history in basic education. The main goal is to think (and present) strategies for the use of primary sources such as the press in classrooms, aiming to guide and help teachers and students to develop critical reading skills for jornalistic texts in historical studies. Through the covering of the Castro Malta case (1884-1885), a man arrested in november 1884 under the pretense of being a bum and a disruptor of the public order and died days after in the Casa de Detenção under the custody of the police, in Rio de Janeiro’s newspapers. This research strives to highlight the press’ potential as historical source to discuss themes like citizenship, enlistment and police brutality with the second and third years of High School. This theme was chosen due to the relevant debates raised throughout this jornalistic covering, such as citizenship, police brutality, racismo, forced enlistment to the Army or Imperial Navy, bringing attention to aspects of the precariousness of the liberty of the black and poor population of Rio the Janeiro, then the country’s capital.