Process and structure: The end of slavery and the persistence of physical punishment in 19th Century Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

It is well known that the end of slavery in Brazil was a long process that began in the mid-nineteenth century, with the definitive end of the African slave trade (in 1850), through the Lei do Ventre Livre (in 1871), that liberated the womb of slaves, until the definitive abolition of the institution in 1888. During that time, the struggle of the slaves was decisive for the weakening of the institution. However, from the point of view of customs, or rather, with respect to the social relations produced and bequeathed by slavery, the persistence of the institution was much longer. We refer more specifically to the physical punishments inflicted, in the midst of the labor relations, on free people (but free people who came from slavery), before and after the 13 of May of 1888. In this sense, this article aims to analyze, through criminal proceedings, the use of justice by freed persons with the purpose of accusing their ex-masters of attempting, in an illegal manner, to continue using practices common in the slaves relations (like physiscal punishment) to submit the labor force. Indeed, it was possible to observe that, in the context of the end of slavery, the freed persons resisted the practice of seigniorial domination that had physical punishment at its center, even bringing their masters before the courts.