As comemorações do cinquentenário da abolição e o discurso racial do Estado Novo

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze what meanings were produced on the fiftieth anniversary of the abolition of slavery, dated May 13, 1938, from the intelligentsia of the 1930s, Black associations and the Estado Novo regime. It further seeks to examine how those actors contributed towards the construction of a Vargas nation-state based on the ideology of racial harmony. The study focuses on the scenario of the state of São Paulo (capital of São Paulo) and the Federal District (Rio de Janeiro), articulating local dynamics with central government guidelines. The work seeks to unveil the narrative disputes and contradictions between the erasure of black protagonism by the official discourse, which monumentalized the figure of Princess Isabel as "Redeemer", and the resistance and political agency of organized black movements of the period. While centering on the year 1938 (the context of the fiftiethanniversary commemoration), the study also looks back at the years 1931–1937 to analyze the planning and trajectories of Black associations prior to the forced closures imposed by the Estado Novo dictatorship. To this end, the research draws on official documents (The Constitution of 1937 and the Decree-Law nº 427 of May 13, 1938 ) and correspondence (from the Gustavo Capanema Archive), on the commercial press and from mass circulation newspapers such as O Globo, O Jornal, Correio Paulistano and Revista do Arquivo Municipal de São Paulo (RAM), on the Black press and movement, considering the periodicals A Voz da Raça (associated with the Frente Negra Brasileira) and Clarim da Alvorada (associated with the Clube Negro de Cultura Social). The analysis of this commemorative event as a “place of memory” reveals the dispute over collective memory and national identity between the Estado Novo — occasionally backed by intellectuals — and Black associations. These associations had operated autonomously prior to the Estado Novo but, due to censorship, were forced to adopt a diluted and officially apolitical stance following the coup of November 10, 1937. The diverse types of sources helped construct a picture of a period overshadowed by the Integralist Uprising of May 11, 1938 — occurring just two days before the anniversary itself — which impacted the execution of planned commemorative activities. Consequently, the research sought to demonstrate how the fiftieth anniversary of abolition became a vehicle for the Getúlio Vargas government to monumentalize the past in the name of national identity, while simultaneously serving as a stage for political resistance by Black associations.