Intersectionality and work: Black experiences during the Brazilian dictatorship (1964-1985) - an analysis based on primary sources and oral testimonies.

Abstract

This article analyzes the experiences of black workers during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985), based on verifiable sources from the archives of the Center for Research and Documentation of Contemporary Brazilian History (CPDOC-FGV), union documentation from the Center for Documentation and Union Memory of CUT (CEDOC-CUT), reports from the National Truth Commission, and consolidated academic bibliography. From a specific periodization that distinguishes four phases of the dictatorship, it examines how apparently neutral economic policies produced racially differentiated impacts on the labor market. The empirical corpus includes oral testimonies from the project “History of the Black Movement in Brazil” coordinated by Verena Alberti and Amilcar Araujo Pereira, analysis of the Domestic Work Law (1972), and documentation on the founding of the Unified Black Movement (1978). The methodology critically articulates the Thompsonian perspective of experience with Brazilian intersectional approaches developed by Lélia Gonzalez and Beatriz Nascimento. The findings demonstrate that the military regime systematically deepened racial inequalities through instruments such as FGTS and BNH, while black workers developed organized resistance that culminated in the pioneering articulation between racial and labor issues during the authoritarian period.