De agredidos a agressores: um estudo sobre as relações sociais entre senhores e escravos no Paraná do século XIX

Abstract

Though different from the peculiarities that characterized the proslavery system in the areas of extensive agriculture and though the period being analyzed corresponds to its phase of disintegration within Parana's conjuncture, daily publications in the newspapers of Parand from 1871 to 1888 leave no doubt relations between masters and slaves were not peaceful although some slaves, usualy perthining to the household, preferred a passive accomodation. Reaction to the state of captivity expressed in diverse ways and the repression it occasioned were unremitting during this whole period which was marked by violence, fear and rancor on both sides. Many slaves submitted to authority and force because they had no alternative, buttheir resistance, continuous or sporadic, open or veiled, was forever present and a constant cause of worry for the owners. This paper, which is based on information
from periodicals, like similar publications based on other kinds of documents, proposes a revision of the widespread belief in the masters benevolence toward their slaves.