“Ele queria viver como se fosse homem livre”: escravidão e liberdade no Termo de Cachoeira (1850-1888)

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the studies of slavery throughout the nineteenth century in Recôncavo baiano. The intention is to understand strategies and the meanings of materials found in spaces of freedom and autonomy, which were built by enslaved and freed people. The research lócus was the Term of Nossa Senhora do Rosário do Porto da Cachoeira, between 1850 and 1888. At that time, the aforementioned Term was composed by tem (10) parishes, amongst a majority of rural areas devoted to the production of goods for exportation and local consumption, such as: sugar, tobacco, and cassava, and other more urbanized areas, marked by the important trade movement. Together with the parishes, in 1872, they were a total of almost 90 thousand people, of whom 17,4% lived as enslaved. In the view of that, the primary objective of this study is to grasp the enslaved and freed people's life experiences, observing the importance of experiences in spaces of autonomy as fundamental mechanisms in their fight for everyday survival and the relevance of these spaces for the creation of projects of freedom, for the maintenance of affective and familiar bonds as well as for the expectation of social, legal, and economic rise. Therefore, in this research, the concept of autonomy is not limited to material elements. Here, the field of cultural manifestations is also taken as a stage of conflicts, tension and disputes prompted by enslaved people in their daily and social experiences. Therefore, some ces of this research are: criminal processes, post mortem inventories, baptism, wedding, death seats, deeds of purchase and sale, letters of manumission, wills and newspapers, sources that, when properly crossed, allow the reconstruction of several aspects of enslaved people's lives of the eighteenth century Recôncavo baiano.