Friedrich Wilhelm Marcellino (c.1830-75), the enslaved Brazilian who promoted the definitive abolition of slavery in Prussia in 1857
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9141.rh.2025.235869Keywords:
abolition, slavery , Prussia, civil code, legal processAbstract
Marcellino, an enslaved Brazilian, played a crucial role in the definitive abolition of slavery in Prussia in 1857. When he and his then master, the physician Luiz Ritter, arrived in Berlin from Rio de Janeiro in 1854, the law still allowed a foreigner to retain ownership of an enslaved person during a temporary stay in Prussia. As soon as he arrived in Berlin, Marcellino abandoned his master and fought for his formal liberation in the courtroom. He lost the case in three instances but maintained his freedom. His sensational lawsuit sparked a public debate that, in 1857, resulted in a law that irreversibly abolished all forms of slavery in Prussia. This article addresses Marcellino’s cause célèbre in the historical context of the presence of Africans and people of African descent in German-speaking territories from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
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