On the day of the worker, we remember: blacks are heroes of the country

The black workers, slaveized and born in Brazil, occupied various and essential functions for the construction of the country. And at the beginning of the nineteenth century at 20, they acted at the beginning of the trade union movement. In the year 1918, Manuel Quirino, a Brazilian black intellectual, published an essay called The Black Settlement as a factor of Brazilian civilization. Quericino was born free in the mid -19th century in the Bahia recôncavo and, contrary to what was with most of the black boys of that period, had access to formal education.

Furthermore, or together with this, it became one of Bahia’s most important abolitionists and a great -acting trade unionist in the organization of Bahie’s workers, as well as artist and politician. After retiring in public life, Quirino dedicated himself to a series of studies, most of them focused on black culture, the arts and cuisine Bahian and in 1918 he published the cited article.

The central thesis of the tests was relatively simple: Quirino claimed that the blacks, slaveized and born in Brazil, were the heroes of work in the country. To demonstrate his point, he scanned in Brazilian history, demonstrating a series of knowledge that African populations brought them, also in the condition of slavery, and recalled that these forced workers were responsible for the construction of Brazilian material (in all areas that can be imagined) and that, literally, all and all the wealth consumed until the abolition of slavery had not been built with the sweat of these men and women.

The tests have very interesting tickets and it is worth reading in full (because it is in the public domain, it is available for free). But what interests me here is the fact that Quirino “swim against the current”, proposing another way of understanding not only the history of Brazil, but the place where the black population occupied in this story.

Article published during the “Embraking” policy

It must be said that in 1918 the Brazilian political elites, political and intellectuals were applying a policy that had the main objective of embracing Brazil. Exactly: through a well -designed policy, European immigration aimed to increase the number of workers, but also allows the real cliff of the Brazilian population through the relationship of these white and European immigrants with black women and Metizo in the country.

Together with the immigration policy, this same elite favored a perverse idea that claimed that the white worker would have been better prepared for the labor market, both in cities and in agricultural areas, which in turn have removed the black experience of free work. As if only the whites were prepared for the new working logic organized in Brazil at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Between the publication of Quericino’s tests and today, several changes have been held in the history of Brazilian work. The trade union organization of workers (black and white) was constant and responsible for a series of results, such as the consolidation of law laws, a series of rules that regulate work relationships in Brazil, created in 1943.

The CLT, as is known, guarantees fundamental rights for workers, such as minimum wages, paid holiday, 13th salary and limited work day. Its importance is to protect the worker from abuse and guarantee decent working conditions. In addition, the CLT contributes to social justice by balanced the relationships between employers and employees.

Enough a result that is always in danger. Recently, a black child was the goal of racism in a private school after being nicknamed “CLT” by the worst colleagues for having expressed the desire to work with a formal contract in the future. In addition, it was discriminated against being a newspaper, which highlights the reproduction of social and racial prejudices within presumably elitted environments. The case generated repercussion and indignation, and it is an invitation to think about how in Brazil there is still a logic to avoid the black population from any positivity concerning the world of work.

Blacks active in the trade union organization

Therefore, on May 1st, the festival of work, it is essential to remember that yes, black workers were heroes from Brazil. Even during slavery, in addition to the hard work in the countryside, black slaves were highly qualified letters – such as carpenter and bricklayers who raised churches, terraced houses and urban infrastructures in the colonial period, especially in the cities such as Salvador, Recife and Gold Preto. In Salvador, these black workers even organized a strike in 1857 who shook the city.

After abolition, the black population was organized to fight for rights and dignity at work. An extraordinary example is the union of Sumplers and Workers in Summer De Rio de Janeiro, founded in 1903, considered the first union in Brazil. Originally known as Black Men Company, this organization not only fought for better working conditions in Porto, but has also promoted cultural activities, such as the foundation of the Carnival Recreio Das Flores and the Serrano Empire School.

Another example is the Charity Club of Black Men and the Black Catholic brothers, which promote mutual help and access to education. It is also worth mentioning the emblematic figure of Minervino de Oliveira, a black worker and leader of the Union who, in the 1920s, distinguished himself as the leader of the worker and the peasant block, being one of the first blacks to occupy a political office in the country.

Therefore, it is essential to emphasize that, even if there is an insistence on the contrary, the trajectory of black work in Brazil is intrinsically linked to the formal struggle of workers, because it was through resistance, collective organization and the search for dignity that the black population has contributed to modeling the pillars of the movement of the Union and the results of Brazilian work.

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Master and doctorate in social history from USP, Ynaê Lopes Dos Santos is a history teacher of the Americas to Uff. She is the author of the books beyond the Senzala. Arrangements of Slavs of accommodation in Rio de Janeiro (Hucitec 2010), History of Africa and Brazil African Descenza (Pallas, 2017), Juliano Moreira: black doctor to the foundation of Brazilian psychiatry (Edff, 2020) and Brazilian racism: a history of the country’s training (however, 2022) and also for the profile of the Instagrm profile @nossos_passos_de_longe.

The text reflects the author’s opinion, not necessarily that of DW.

Source: Terra

Rose

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