Liberdade por escrito: Os jornais de Salvador e a luta pela abolição (1869-1888)

Abstract

The Abolitionist Movement is currently considered by various researchers to be the first nationwide social movement in Brazil. Bahia also engaged in this mobilization, including through pioneering actions. The objective of this work is to analyze how the main newspapers of Salvador acted in the campaign and interacted within a context of intensified debates, divergent political forces, and economic difficulties, among other aspects, using as reference points the years 1869 — when the Sociedade Libertadora Sete de Setembro (Sete de Setembro Liberation Society), the largest association of its kind in the province, was founded — and 1888, when slavery was legally abolished in Brazil. This history is told in three chapters. The first focuses on the press and political power, describing the newspapers and their connections (or lack thereof) with political parties. The second chapter analyzes the relationship between the newspapers and the people: the challenges of print media in a city of illiterates, the presence of enslaved people in the printed pages, the multiple voices of abolition in Salvador, and newsrooms as a physical presence in the urban fabric, serving as spaces of interaction with society. The final chapter centers on the dynamics between the newspapers: the formation of networks of newspapers and journalists, conflicts, the circulation of news, the impact of new communication technologies, and events in which journalists were at the center of the action.