Slaves, freedmen, free African descendants, non-free, blacks, ingênuos: Education legislation concerning the black population in nineteenth century Brazil

Abstract

Abstract This paper seeks to discuss the relationship between the legal framework for education and the black population in Brazil, seen through the prism of history of education. It analyzes how this segment of the population has been depicted in laws and imperial ordinances related to instruction, while highlighting the changes and continuities regarding permissions and prohibitions in the access to school enrollment and attendance. Whole sets of laws and regulations were perused regarding primary and secondary education of nine provinces and seven others indirectly, in search of terms that make reference to the legal or racial condition of welcome or unwelcome students. When monitoring the changes in the use of terms throughout the nineteenth century – slaves, non-free, freedmen, blacks, descendants of free Africans, ingênuos – in different provinces, we encounter prohibitions and permissions for the enrollment and/or attendance of blacks between 1835 (when prohibition against enrollment of non-free people was first mentioned) and 1887 (when the last prohibition of slave enrollment occurred). We use Thompson’s perspective in regarding the law as a result of disputes and customs in order to offer explanations about the relation between the black population and education when Brazil was an empire. We conclude that the relationship between legal order and education sheds light on the history of education with respect to the presence/absence of blacks in public schools during the Empire.