Published on Jul 8, 2013
From the BBC Timewatch Series
While the history of slavery in the US is widely known, few people realize that Brazil was the largest participant in the slave trade. Forty percent of all slaves that survived the Atlantic crossing were destined for Brazil, while only four percent were sent to the US. At one time half of the population of Brazil were slaves, and it was the last country to officially abolish slavery in 1888.
While the history of slavery in the US is widely known, few people realize that Brazil was the largest participant in the slave trade. Forty percent of all slaves that survived the Atlantic crossing were destined for Brazil, while only four percent were sent to the US. At one time half of the population of Brazil were slaves, and it was the last country to officially abolish slavery in 1888.
This well-researched BBC production charts Brazil's history using original texts, letters, accounts, and decrees. From these original sources, we learn firsthand about the brutality of the slave traders and slave owners, and the hardship of plantation life. With the Portugese colony of Angola acting as a "factor" supplying Africans to Brazil, it was cheaper to replace any slave starved and worked to death than to extend his life by treating him humanely. Few plantation owners sent for their wives to live in this hot climate, so the softening effect of family life was absent among the rough white settlers.
Historians Joao Jose Reis, Cya Teixeira, Marilene Rosa Da Silva, anthropologist Peter Fry, and others recount the effect of centuries of slavery on Brazil today.This is an important documentary for Black history, African history, and Latin American studies.
Historians Joao Jose Reis, Cya Teixeira, Marilene Rosa Da Silva, anthropologist Peter Fry, and others recount the effect of centuries of slavery on Brazil today.This is an important documentary for Black history, African history, and Latin American studies.
19 comments:
Very interesting and informative video regarding this period of time in the history of Brazil. At the same time, it reflects the reality with respect to the slavery time.
In my opinion, I think that this is a tought subject to talk about. It could be consider a very hard issue in the history of each Latin America country, in this case Brazil. In many societies could be considered a taboo subject. However, it is very important to learn the history of each country, although the reality has beenn very hard and cruel.
I am very, very, glad you posted this documentary on your blog professor. This video has helped me immensely with my history essay. As well, I found this video very informative and detailed, despite the fact that there have been many conflicting perspectives on the historical topic of slavery throughout time. I feel as if this video put the issue (Brazilian slavery) into a better perspective for me than the book had.
Thank you.
The first time I saw this video was in my Race and Ethnicity class my freshman year of college. This has a lot of great information regarding Brazil's participation in the slave trade. Although it was a sad time in history, the slave trade has always been interesting to me and I would definitely love to see more videos like this on your page.
Honestly, if it was not for this class and video, I would not know anything about slavery in Brazil. Growing up I only learned about the slavery in the United States and what happened there. This video really illustrated the issues of slavery in Brazil.
Wow! I ca not stop feeling bad for the slaves. A lot of cruelty times. The colonial era is not my favorite. :(
Wow. I had no idea how huge slavery was in Brazil. I didn't think it could have been bigger or worse than slavery in the US but it probably was. This helped with my essay as well so thanks for posting it!
-Michelle N. Diaz
Very strong video. Slavery is never a topic that is fun to cover, but this video uses the strong history that Brazil had to teach us about this horrible time.
Huh...the first slaves were bribed into slavery. Quite the odd sentence, how cruel of the Portuguese but then again I am talking about humans here...cruelty is what we are best at.
I am flabbergasted that over forty percent of African slaves were sent to Brazil while only 4 were sent to the U.S. This video has really shed light on the cruelty behind the colonial era and slavery on a global scale. Overall, it was very informative and detailed.
This was a very informative video. I had no idea that Brazil was one of the many countries countries to import more African slaves. The it was also upsetting to see that the Blacks are still suppressed in a more sophisticated way. They are still slaves of the system
It's so hard to see what these slaves had to endure in Brazil, but at the same time it makes me wonder, did any slaves have it "better" than the other? Also, I can't imagine how much cheaper it was to replace a slave rather than just treat the sick slave. I'm just baffled by how they could do this to a human.
Every time I watch movies or documentaries about slavery I can't help but think about how horrible life must have been for these people. It is truly disgusting how human beings have treated other human beings.
Wow this video does a really good job describing slavery in Brazil. It is very sad to see the way slaves were treated. This video provides very important information that all student should know. Thank you
I feel Brazil and many of the other Latin American nations have an unstable government due to the huge dependency on slavery. If South America would have stood up only on European labor, expanding its economies beyond sugar and the gold available, maybe South America would be different today.
it's so unfair how millions of Indians died and lost their territory because of foreign empires who put emphasis on money and power instead of getting along with the other human beings. It is like someone coming to your house and stealing it, oh and give you a bad disease just because they want to show off that they have another house. Not fair. Not good. And we do that to animals too.
I did not know much about slavery with regards to Brazil prior to this video and this class. It really opened my eyes to see just how many people were brought over to work and also how the population at one point was made up of around 50% slaves.
Slavery in Brasil was harsh... Especially when cultivating sugar! As it is Brasil and Cuba were the last 2 countries in the New World in the late 1800's to give up slavery.
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