Brazilian Abolitionist Confederation

The Brazilian Abolitionist Confederation was a political organization created on May 9, 1883, which brought together anti-slavery societies from all over the Empire with the objective of pressuring the Brazilian government to put an end to slavery. It mainly used the press, theater, meetings, conferences and local emancipation funds as forms of activism. Some of the most famous leaders of the Brazilian Abolitionist Movement were involved in the organization, such as José do Patrocínio, Joaquim Nabuco, André Rebouças, Luiz Gama and João Clapp.^[1]

The institutionalization of the Abolitionist Confederation occurred within a political and economic context marked by strong international pressure to end slavery in Brazil. Although the subject had been in vogue since the late 1860s, it was only in the 1880s that the Abolitionist Movement gained strength. At this time, there was an increase in the circulation of activists, rhetoric and strategies through new technologies such as steamships and telegraph technology, which made it possible to spread political debates and experiences on an international scale and pushed various activists from different countries to build alliances or sociability networks. As a result, groups of people who shared the same interests developed, and over the years these associations began to work together to establish communication, resulting in the emergence of several national political associations. This model of properly structured collective action, known as associativism, was originally found in European countries such as England and France, and was used as a reference by Brazilian anti-slavery activists to build local activism in harmony with the subjectivities found in Brazil's national context and political tradition.^[2]

An adaptation made in Brazil can be noted regarding the meeting places, since in other countries, the groups met in churches, and in Brazil, most abolitionists gathered in theaters, which brought some characteristics to the movement, such as involvement with the arts, the dramatization of slavery and the theatricalization of politics. According to a survey carried out in the Almanak Laemmert, Cláudia Regina Andrade dos Santos demonstrates the expansion of associative life in Rio de Janeiro during the 1880s. According to her, the increase in the number of these institutions was strongly connected to the intensification of political debates and the political activism of Brazil's popular abolitionist sectors. She also states that the National Abolitionist Movement changed the field of politics through associations, creating clubs, societies, guilds and schools of different ideological, social and political hues. As a result, in 1883, the Abolitionist Movement succeeded in bringing together various organizations in a common program, known as Abolitionist Confederation.^[3]

The Brazilian Abolitionist Confederation was created at 6 p.m. on May 9, 1883, at a meeting organized at the headquarters of Gazeta da Tarde in Rio de Janeiro and was responsible for coordinating several anti-slavery associations and developing the Abolitionist Movement among the provinces of the Empire. It was also able to nationalize the campaign with its way of easily reproducing events and decisions, using public sessions, conferences and festivals. Its activities in newspapers, which published articles, pamphlets, essays, artistic productions, translations and manifestos, were responsible for enabling contact at national level between those who led the provinces and the others who took part in the movement. Before its creation, there were two other institutions fighting against slavery in Brazil: the Sociedade Brasileira Contra a Escravidão (English: Brazilian Society Against Slavery) and the Associação Central Emancipadora (English: Central Emancipation Association).^[4]

Initially, the societies that formed the Abolitionist Confederation were mostly student unions, but there was also a social variety, which included associations of printers, commercial employees and former slaves. Most of the organizations were located in the provinces of Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Ceará, Rio Grande do Sul and Espírito Santo, but as time went by, they became more widespread in the territory. There were several historical figures among the anti-slavery groups that joined the Confederation who stood out for their work in the Abolitionist Movement, including Joaquim Nabuco, André Rebouças, Abílio Borges and Luiz Gama. The last three mentioned receive less prestige when the subject of abolition comes up, but their participation, even if independent, was fundamental to the development of political strategies in the Abolitionist Movement.^[1]