Black Population in the Parahyba do Norte/Brazil: Racial Classification and Literacy in the XIXth Century

Abstract

The polysemy of racial classifications for black population of Parahyba do Norte/Brazil is discussed. From the research on primary sources such as the press and documents of the provincial administration, and with the theoretical contribution of social history, history of education and history of slavery are exposed terms related to color, qualities and conditions, in order to discuss the different possibilities of being black in the nineteenth century. In this way, the limits between slavery and freedom are discussed, and how the possibility of fluidity between being a slave and being free person affected the identification of the subjects. It is concluded that the imprecision that surrounded black population interfered in their correlation with instruction, and how the contact with the literate universe could interfere in the classifications of the individuals.