Revolution of the Ganhadores

{{Further|Race and ethnicity in Brazil|Slavery in Brazil}}

File:Cidade da Bahia (The City of Bahia) (cropped).jpg, 1859]]

In 1857, Salvador, the capital city of the Brazilian province of Bahia and a major port in the Atlantic slave trade,{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=358}} had a population of over 50,000.{{refn|group=note|Estimates vary widely for the 1857 population of Salvador. Brazilian historians Ana Amélia Nascimento and {{interlanguage link|Kátia de Queirós Mattoso|pt}} estimated that the city had a population of 58,498 and 89,260, respectively. The Jornal da Bahia newspaper gave a contemporary estimate of between 140,000 and 150,000, though historian João José Reis states that this may be an exaggerated estimate.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=357}}}}{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=357}} White Brazilians made up about 30 percent of the population, while black people constituted about 40 percent of the population.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=357–358}} Altogether, Afro-Brazilians, which included slaves, freedmen, and mixed-race people of African descent, made up a majority of the city's population.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=357–358}} Slaves made up between 30 and 40 percent of the population, with a majority of them having been born in Africa.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=358}} Many were Nagos, or members of the Yoruba people from the area around the Bight of Benin.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=358}} The system of urban slavery in Salvador differed in some ways from plantation slavery.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=359}} Many of the slaves in Salvador were allowed a comparatively high freedom of movement and engaged in various forms of manual street labor, in trades such as bricklaying or carpentry.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=359–360}} It was not uncommon for masters to let their slaves rent residences away from their homes and return only once per week to give their masters a part of the money that they had earned through their labor, with the slaves allowed to keep the remainder.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=359}} In many cases, these slaves worked alongside freedmen, and some slaves were able to save enough money to eventually purchase their manumission.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=359}}

Many black people in Salvador worked as laborers known as {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} ('earners').{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=355–356}} These {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} worked as porters, transporting goods, cargo, and people throughout the city.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=355}} Transportation in the city was largely dependent on these {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}}, as other forms of transportation were either unavailable or economically unfeasible for most merchants.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=380}} At the time, it was a profession held entirely by black people, with no white people or pardo Brazilians (people of mixed race or ethnicity) working in that field.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=355}} During an 1847 visit to Salvador, Alexandre, Baron Forth-Rouen des Mallets of France, wrote that black people constituted "the majority of the Bahia's population" and were "the only ones to be seen in the streets, like beasts employed to carry all kinds of burdens, and which circulate laden with heavy loads".{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=355}} A similar observation was made by German explorer Robert Christian Avé-Lallemant during an 1858 stay in Salvador, where he said, "Everything that runs, shouts, works, everything that transports and carries is black".{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=355}} About 30 percent of the Nagos slaves in Salvador worked exclusively as {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}}, and a majority worked either full-time or part-time as such.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=360}} The {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} of Salvador organized themselves into work groups known as {{lang|pt-BR|cantos}},{{refn|group=note|The word {{lang|pt-BR|canto}} in this context has a double meaning, as it can be translated as either 'corner' or 'song'.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=360}} The translation as corner refers to streetcorners, where many {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} would gather for work.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=366}} The translation as song refers to the work songs that the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} often sang.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=366}}}} with each {{lang|pt-BR|canto}} covering a particular area of the city.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=365}} These {{lang|pt-BR|cantos}} also functioned as important public spaces for Africans in Salvador, as they served as gathering places where people could interact, buy and sell goods, and engage in religious practices.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=366–367}} Each {{lang|pt-BR|canto}} was led by an individual known as the {{lang|pt-BR|capitão-do-canto}} ('captain of the canto'), who was selected from among the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} of the {{lang|pt-BR|canto}} and could be either freedmen or slaves.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=368}}

{{Further|Malê revolt}}

File:2014 Dünya Kupası'nın Yapılacağı Şehirler.png, Salvador, and São Paulo.]]

Between 1807 and 1835, slaves in Bahia staged over 20 slave rebellions that scared many slave owners in the region.{{sfn|Graden|2005|p=130}} In 1835, a group of Muslim slaves and freedmen in Salvador, a majority of whom were Yoruba, revolted in what historian João José Reis called "the most dramatic urban slave rebellion in Brazilian history".{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=361}} The uprising was ultimately suppressed, and in the aftermath, about half of the prisoners who were indicted for involvement were {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}}.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=372}} Additionally, 17 percent of the individuals were artisans who probably worked in the {{lang|pt-BR|cantos}} and had acted as the main conspirators in the uprising.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=372}} In June of that year, in response to the uprising, the Provincial Legislature enacted Law 14, which replaced the {{lang|pt-BR|cantos}} with {{lang|pt-BR|capatazias}}.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=372–373}} Under this system, the {{lang|pt-BR|capatazias}} would be overseen by a {{lang|pt-BR|capataz}} ('foreman') who would receive a salary directly from the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} he oversaw and, according to the law, would "police the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}}".{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=372–373}} Additionally, {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} would be required to register themselves with the government and wear metal bracelets with identification tags.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=373–374}} The {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} were required to register monthly and would face a fee of 10,000 réis for failure to do so.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=373}} A system of inspectors was established to oversee their registrations, police the areas to which they were assigned, and to serve as the {{lang|pt-BR|capatazes}}' superiors.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=373}} The law, which took effect in April 1836, was unpopular among the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} and the wider public.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=374}} An article published in the Diário da Bahia in May 1836 criticized the {{lang|pt-BR|capatazes}} and the identification tags, arguing that they would lead to increased prices and would hinder the movement of the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} around the city. {{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=374–375}} Additionally, the newspaper felt that the province should not become involved in laws regarding {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}}, which they felt was a matter best left to the city government.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=377}} Authorities had difficulties in enforcing the law, as many {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} refused to register, gave false information, refused to pay fines, and relocated to parts of the city where the law was not strongly enforced.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=375–377}} Businesspeople and merchants in some areas complained about the effect that the law had on their businesses, with the number of active {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} in these areas dropping considerably.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=375–377}} Ultimately, by 1837, authorities gave in, {{lang|pt-BR|cantos}} were restored, and the law went unenforced.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=377}}

Despite the failure of Law 14, Brazilian authorities continued to try to exert control over the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} over the decades that followed.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=378–379}} Around March 1857,{{refn|group=note|A 1997 article by João José Reis in the Journal of Latin American Studies does not give an exact date, but states that it had occurred "three months" before 1 June 1857.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=355–356}}}} the city government of Salvador promulgated an ordinance that stated that {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} would have to register for a permit with the city council in order to continue to work in that profession.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=355–356}} The total cost of registration was 5,000 réis, roughly the price of {{Convert|10|kg|lb}} of meat, with 3,000 réis going towards a metal plaque with the slave's registration number engraved on it.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=356}} This plaque was to be worn around their necks at all times while working.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=356}} A similar policy had existed since the early 1840s regarding the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} in Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the Brazilian Empire.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=381}} Additionally, {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} who were freedmen needed to present guarantors who would take responsibility for their behavior.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=356}} A similar city ordinance that was already in place at the time applied to {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadeiras}}, black women who worked in the streets as grocery vendors, who had to pay an annual fee of 20,000 réis.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=356}} The ordinance would came into effect on 1 June.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=355}}

{{Quote box

| quote = The blacks have hidden themselves; and if the masters do not intervene, ordering them to obey the Law, this calamity will continue because, according to what we have heard, they are so disposed.

| source = Coverage of the strike in the Jornal da Bahia, 2 June 1857{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=379}}

| width = 400px

}}

The strike action began on 1 June, the day that the act became enforceable.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=379}} Transportation in the city was immediately paralyzed.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=356}}{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=380}} The following day, the Jornal da Bahia published a front-page story on the strike, saying that there were no active {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} in the city and that nothing had left the customs house except for some small items and goods that were carried by slaves of the parties involved.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=379}} The newspaper continued to publish front-page updates for the duration of the strike.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=379}} On 1 June, the Commercial Association, a group that represented some of the largest merchants in the city, protested the ordinance to Bahia's provincial president, João Lins Cansanção, Viscount of Sinimbu.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=380}} Cansanção, an economically liberal politician, immediately ordered the council to stop charging a registration fee and distribute the tags free of charge.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=381}} This resulted in a schism between the president and the city council, with the president arguing that the council did not have the authority to levy the tax against the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} without the consent of the provincial government and that the burden of the fee would be passed on to consumers.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=382}} Despite objections from some of the aldermen, the council agreed to waive the registration fee.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=381}} At the onset of the strike, there was confusion amongst different groups regarding what had been its main cause. The Commercial Association argued that the registration tax was the main item to blame, while the editors of the Jornal stated that the mandatory identification tags were responsible, while the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} viewed them as an obvious sign of humiliation and dehumanization.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=380}} The city council, meanwhile, stated that the strike had begun because the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} "wish to dispense with any type of supervision".{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=382}}

With the financial portion of the ordinance repealed, the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} continued to strike over the regulations found in the law,{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=383}} specifically the provision that they needed to wear metal identification tags.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=384}} On 2 June, the Jornal reported that there had been some movement of goods from the customs house, but that overall transportation was near-nonexistent.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=383}} By the third day, however, some slaves began to defect and return to work.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=384}} Many had had their tags acquired for them by their owners and faced retribution from their owners for continuing to strike.{{sfn|Reis|1997|pp=384–385}} According to archives kept by the city council, there were 40 registrations made on 4 June, after owners were made aware that they would not have to pay the fee, compared to just three registrations that had been made prior to that date.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=385}} The Jornal reported that some slaves who wore their tags in public were attacked with stones by strikers, and others chose to take off their tags and resume striking after pressure from other Africans.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=385}} Despite these incidents, solidarity remained relatively strong among the strikers and the supporting community, with evidence that some {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadeiras}} allowed the strikers to purchase food on credit.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=385}} On 5 June, the Jornal called the strike a "dangerous crisis, a revolution" led by "new revolutionaries", labeling it the "revolution of {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}}".{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=386}} Many white Brazilians in the city were alarmed at the impact that the strike was having and were fearful of an all-out slave rebellion.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=386}}

On 8 June, some {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} began to return to work without wearing their identification tags.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=387}} This number continued to increase in the days that followed.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=385}} On 9 June, the city council voted to repeal the ordinance and replaced it with a new one that did away entirely with the tax.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=387}} Additionally, freedmen were no longer required to have guarantors, but instead only had to have a "certificate of guarantee" from an official or reputable citizen.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=387}} However, the new law still required all {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} to wear their tags in public.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=387}} Following this new law, many freedmen began to collect certificates of guarantee and register with the city government, and by 12 June, many {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} had returned to work, wearing their tags.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=387}} However, a significant number returned to work without tags, either as a form of continued protest or because the city government had run out of tags.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=387}} The following day, the Jornal reported that commerce was resuming to pre-strike levels, with the strike effectively over.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=387}}

The strike had a large short-term impact on Salvador's economy and history, as it had effectively shut down transportation within the city for a week.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=356}} In 1997, Reis called the event the first general strike in Brazil's history, occurring several years prior to a more well-known strike involving printers in Rio de Janeiro in 1858.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=357}} Ultimately, the strike was partially successful in opposing the city ordinance.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=390}} While {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} were still required to register and wear tags, they were not required to pay for them, and freedmen found it much easier to attain a "certificate of guarantee" than to find a guarantor.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=390}} According to Reis, the partial success of the strike can be attributed in large part to the organized nature of the {{lang|pt-BR|cantos}}, which allowed for a form of organized labor amongst the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}}.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=390}} Additionally, the strong ethnic ties among the Nagos helped to foster solidarity among the strikers and the larger Afro-Brazilian community in Salvador, with Reis stating that the strike represented an early form of pan-Africanism that became more widespread through Bahia in the later 1800s.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=391}} Reis also states that the shortcomings of the strike may be attributed to the large number of slaves who worked alongside freedmen as {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} and were more likely to defect, ultimately serving as unintentional strikebreakers.{{sfn|Reis|1997|p=391}} In 1880, new legislation removed the requirement for the {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} to wear metal tags, though it still required them to wear registration identification on the right sleeves of their shirts.{{sfn|Reis|2005|p=144}} Additionally, the new legislation required them to register with the police and not directly with the city council.{{sfn|Reis|2005|p=144}} Over the next several decades, the percentage of slaves working as {{lang|pt-BR|ganhadores}} declined, and by 1888, the year that slavery was abolished in Brazil, slaves constituted only about 2.5 percent of Salvador's population.{{sfn|Reis|2005|pp=141–142}}

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Graden |first=Dale T. |url=http://archive.org/details/africaamericasin0000unse |title=Africa and the Americas: Interconnections During the Slave Trade |publisher=Africa World Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-59221-271-2 |editor-last=Curto |editor-first=José C. |location=Trenton, New Jersey |pages=127–140 |translator-last=Gledhill |translator-first=H. Sabrina |chapter=African Responses to the End of the International Slave Trade and Abolitionist Initiatives in Bahia, Brazil, 1850–1865 |editor-last2=Soulodre-La France |editor-first2=Renée}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Reis |first=João José |date=May 1997 |others=Translated by H. Sabrina Gledhill |title='The Revolution of the Ganhadores': Urban Labour, Ethnicity and the African Strike of 1857 in Bahia, Brazil |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=355–393 |doi=10.1017/S0022216X9700477X |jstor=158398|s2cid=55955013 |url=http://www.repositorio.ufba.br/ri/handle/ri/8349 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Reis |first=João José |url=http://archive.org/details/africaamericasin0000unse |title=Africa and the Americas: Interconnections During the Slave Trade |publisher=Africa World Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-59221-271-2 |editor-last=Curto |editor-first=José C. |location=Trenton, New Jersey |pages=141–172 |translator-last=Gledhill |translator-first=H. Sabrina |chapter=Street Labor in Bahia on the Eve of the Abolition of Slavery |editor-last2=Soulodre-La France |editor-first2=Renée}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Bartz |first=Frederico Duarte |date=2009 |title=Partido Communista do Brazil (1919): lutas, divergências e esquecimentos. |url=https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/aedos/article/view/10936 |journal=Revista Aedos |language=pt |volume=2 |issue=4 |issn=1984-5634}}
• Dias, Everardo. História das Lutas Sociais no Brasil. São Paulo: Alfa-Omega, 1977.
• {{Cite web |last=Flores |first=Rafael |date=November 25, 2022 |title=Trabalhadores negros da primeira greve do Brasil são inocentados em Júri Simulado da Defensoria |trans-title=Black workers of the first strike in Brazil are acquitted in Simulated Jury of the Ombudsman |url=https://www.defensoria.ba.def.br/noticias/trabalhadores-negros-da-primeira-greve-do-brasil-sao-inocentados-em-juri-simulado-da-defensoria/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623235344/https://www.defensoria.ba.def.br/noticias/trabalhadores-negros-da-primeira-greve-do-brasil-sao-inocentados-em-juri-simulado-da-defensoria/ |archive-date=June 23, 2023 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |website=Electronic Official Gazette of the Public Defender's Office of the State of Bahia |language=pt-br}}
• {{Cite web |last=Marasciulo |first=Marilia |date=August 5, 2020 |title=Entregadores do século 19 paralisaram Salvador na primeira greve do Brasil |trans-title=19th-century delivery men paralyzed Salvador in Brazil's first strike |url=https://tab.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2020/08/05/entregadores-do-seculo-19-paralisaram-salvador-na-primeira-greve-do-brasil.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622171731/https://tab.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2020/08/05/entregadores-do-seculo-19-paralisaram-salvador-na-primeira-greve-do-brasil.htm |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |website=Universo Online |language=pt-br}}
• {{cite journal|date=2020|doi=10.1590/1980-4369e2020003|first=Flamarion|issn=1980-4369|last=Maués|periodical=História (São Paulo)|title=Edição, política e ditadura: dois livros de oposição da Editora Alfa-Omega|volume=39 |doi-access=free}}
• {{Cite book |last=Reis |first=João José |title=Ganhadores: A greve negra de 1857 na Bahia |publisher=Companhia das Letras |year=2019 |location=São Paulo |language=pt |oclc=1122742402}}
• {{Cite web |last=Reis |first=João José |date=5 March 2020 |others=With Isadora Moura Mota |title="When the Africans Hid Themselves": The 1857 Strike in Bahia |url=https://mediacentral.princeton.edu/media/%E2%80%9CWhen+the+Africans+Hid+Themselves%E2%80%9DA+The+1857+Strike+in+Bahia+/1_yqrprjpe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728174536/https://mediacentral.princeton.edu/media/%E2%80%9CWhen+the+Africans+Hid+Themselves%E2%80%9DA+The+1857+Strike+in+Bahia+/1_yqrprjpe |archive-date=28 July 2021 |access-date=25 July 2022 |website=Princeton University Media Central}}

• {{Official website|https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/brazilian-laborers-ganhadores-strike-against-id-tag-and-tax-legislation-1857|name=Global Nonviolent Action Database}}

{{Afro-Brazilian topics}}

Category:1857 in Brazil

Category:1857 labor disputes and strikes

Category:African diaspora in Brazil

Category:History of Salvador, Bahia

Category:June 1857

Category:Labour disputes in Brazil

Category:Slavery in Brazil

Category:History of the Yoruba people