Places of memory, spaces of resistance: the black people in Campinas

Black groups have always sought ways to keep their traditions alive, and syncretic religiosity has been one of the most effective ways. Institutional or not, blacks organized and created their own space as means of resistance and mutual aid, still in the slave context of the nineteenth century. In this way, we try to show the articulation and the agency of these individuals in their daily life, a black population presented more present and active, instead of presenting it as apathetic and without expression in history.

Very common in society, the brotherhoods had social hierarchical, with those associations for elites and others of a popular nature and / or aimed at black groups. This can be seen in the case of the Campinas brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament, which did not accept slaves and had high monthly payments, so that only the elitist members of society could participate.

The brotherhood of St. Benedict, for example, was very active, especially in promoting parties. The construction of the chapel designed for the brotherhood, inaugurated in 1885, was the work of a former slave, Tito de Camargo Andrade (Mestre Tito), who organized the institution to raise funds through alms.

In the nineteenth century, it was common belief that the soul was more probability to be saved if the person were buried close of holy spaces (such as consecrated cemeteries and even within churches). The church of São Benedito de Campinas, located between Lusitana and 24 de maio streets in 1878, was built next to the ancient Cemetery of the Captive, because it was an important space for black religiosity, increasing the idea that their ancestors would be blessed in the afterlife.

The Church of the Rosary, according to the researcher Celso Maria de Mello Pupo (1900-2003), was raised with the participation of the alms of black captives. These demonstrate the interest of this group in establishing devotions to which there was an identity connection, such as the Virgin of the Rosary, devotion linked to the conquest of Africa.

Within the institutional way, as presented in the brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary, black religiosity manifested itself in a way that tangled clerical orthodoxy. Often, the African roots appeared through celebrations, such as the congada.

The nights of St John were also festivities that had a large presence of slaves and freedmen. The Christian party represented a time when the masters allowed their slaves a break from their work, as a way of captivating them with the new imposed religion, and granted themselves manumission at these times.

Brazil’s slavery past demarcated specific social places for black women whether in captivity or in the years after 1888. One of those places was the domestic slave, who then became the maid, whose function was, besides cleaning, cooking and washing, caring for white babies and children of their masters and bosses.

However, throughout the twentieth century, this figure was appropriated by the Brazilian black movement and re-signified as a symbol of strength and worthy of homage.

The place chosen for the monument to the Mãe Preta in the city of Campinas was a square in front of the Church of São Benedito, in the center. There was the old one Cemitério dos Cativos, where the slaves of the region were buried until the end of the 19th century. So is a place where they pulsate the memories of the Campinas black population. Memories of pain, but also of strength and resistance.