1821 Slave Life in Rio de Janeiro as Seen through Newspaper Advertisements
[One important source of information about urban slaves is the advertisements which appeared regularly in Brazil's daily newspapers during most of the nineteenth century. These blunt offers to buy, sell, or rent slaves, or to pay rewards to persons who captured and returned runaways contain much information about their African origins, clothing, occupations, skills, punishments, diseases, physical disabilities, and the clever personal adjustments that some of them managed to make in the face of extraordinary hardships. Concerning their masters, such advertisements also reveal a remarkable callousness toward their victims, many of whom, as their actions showed, were helpless, bewildered, and desperate. The following notices, selected from among dozens of the kind that appeared in a single issue of 0 Diario do Rio de Janeiro, give a stark impression of slave life in one of Brazil's most important and sophisticated cities. Source: Diario do Rio de Janeiro, December 17, 1821.]
SALES
For sale a creole slave, a skilfull shoemaker, with a very good figure, about twenty years of age, with no vices or bad habits. His final price is 300$000 rein. Anyone interested in him should go to Travessa do Paco No. 11, upstairs, where he will find someone to speak to about the matter.
In Rua de Santa Teresa No. 36 a black man is now on sale, since his master is about to leave for Lisbon.
For sale, a black man of the Angola nation, about 20 to 25 years of age, a very good maker of combs, both tortoise shell and animal horn. Anyone interested should go to Rua da Quitanda, cornor of Sao Pedro, No. 50, where he will find someone to deal with . . .
Whoever would like to buy three native slave women from Angola, who have come recently from that place, one who irons and does laundry, another a baker and laundress, and the third also a laundress, all with very good figures and the ability to do every kind of work in the house, should contact Manoel do Nascimento da Mara, Rua Direita No. 54, first floor . . .
Whoever would like to buy a very good black cook and laundress, who also knows how to iron, is still young and without vices, should go to Rua dos Pescadores No. 80, where he will find someone to speak to.
PURCHASES
Whoever has a creole girl, well -made, from six to eight years of age, and wishes to sell her, should contact Manoel do Nascimento da Mata, Rua Direita No. 54, first floor. He wishes to buy her to take her out of the country . . .
RENTALS
Whoever is interested in renting slaves well trained in the baker's trade, who could even do every type of work in a house, should go to Rua dos Latoeiros, house No. 14, or to the textile shop on the Rua do Cano, almost at the cornor of Rua dos Latoeiros, facing house No. 51.
WET NURSES
Whoever would like to buy a black woman with milk, who can also cook and wash, should go to Rua do Senhor dos Passos, No. 35, opposite [the statue] of the same Senhor dos Passos . . .
PRIVATE NOTICES . . .
Whoever is interested in sending us any slave woman for training in ironing, sewing, and other accomplishments appropriate to a woman should direct himself to Rua Sao Jose, No. 69. In the same shop we mend silk stockings, do washing, every kind of sewing, and ironing, is taken in at a reasonable price . . .
FOUND
Antonio Jose Telles, bush captain [capitdo-do-mato], just arriving from Santa Cruz, has captured three black men from some thieves. Two acculturated Africans [Iadinos] have been turned over to their owners, and a beardless boy newly arrived from Mozambique has been delivered to the jail for safekeeping, and I now make known to the public through this ad that his owner can see him at the jail.
On the 7th of the current month about ten o'clock in the morning two residents of Minas Gerais who stayed at the marshy encampment on the road to Minas and Sao Paulo found a black woman in an open hut and, suspecting her of being a runaway, took her with them and turned her over to Manoel Lopes Rodrigues Guimaraes, a resident at the Carova ranch, in the new parish of Campo Grande. She says she is a Benguela and that her name is Maria. She is still not very adapted to the country, but says her master is a mulatto named Alexandre, and that he lives in the Valongo. [See Document 1.9.] Her owner can find her in the aforementioned ranch, or look for her in the bakery in the Beco das Cancellas between Rua do Ouvidor and Rua do Rosario, where she will be sent. When a precise description of her has been given, she will be surrendered to her owner, once the expenses have been paid.
ROBBERY
A black man of the Benguela nation named Joaquim has run away, taking with him a display case containing wares. He has been going about the city as a peddler, with a license made out in the name of Isabel Esmeria, and the wares he has stolen belong to her, his mistress. He is believed to be selling his materials in various places protected by the license which he also took with him. Whoever knows anything about the stolen goods, or the black man, should notify his mistress, who will pay a reward for the trouble. It is suggested to anyone who inspects street peddlers' licenses that if he should find this man in possession of that license he should have him arrested as a thief. It is also suggested that it will be easier to find him during daylight hours, and that the license will serve as evidence . . .
RUNAWAY SLAVES
It is now two months since a black creole woman named Candida from Mozambique ran away. She is tall, full-bodied, has long hair, and four spots or marks of her nation, one between the eyes, another on the chin, and one on each cheek. She has one slightly bent leg. Whoever brings her safely to Rua de Santo Antonio, No. 10, will receive the deserved reward.
A slave named Joaquim ran away in September of last year from Luis Manoel de Almeida Bastos. He is of the Benguela nation, practices the profession of cook, and was also a peddler. He is tall, ugly in the face, has a flat nose, with a scar in the corner of his left eye, and another on his lower lip close to the corner of his mouth, and he has big flat feet. Anyone who has any information about him, and wishes to notify his above mentioned master, a resident at Caju Point in the house of Captain Manoel Joaquim Bacellar, will receive three doubloons as a reward.
On October 30, last, a black man named Narciso fled from house No. 19 of the Rua do Lavradio. He is a trained mason, still a boy of about 18, short, well-built, has large eyes, and a very sprightly and happy face; blue trousers of cotton gingham from Minas Gerais, also carried cotton trousers. It is believed that he goes about in the city suburbs working at his trade. Project supervisors and master masons are requested to check at their construction sites to see if the said slave is there, and to advise his master and have him taken to him by someone, with the assurance that he will receive a reward of 12$800 reis.
A boy of 13 or 14 years of age, with the following distinguishing marks, has run away: a white spot on his right eye, he is covered with scabies, has trousers of yellow cotton and' a blue cotton jacket. Whoever has knowledge of him should come to Rua da Ajuda No. 57, where he will get a reward.
Fled the first of the current month a black man named Manoel, of the Benguela nation, of ordinary stature, small eyes, full-bodied but not badly built, a rather yellowish complexion. He is a sailor, wears cotton trousers and a blue waistcoat, carried more clothes in a bundle, including a gingham shirt. Whoever knows anything about him or has some news should go to house No. 13 Rua dos Barbones, where he will be paid for his troubles.
All those persons who run eating houses or even private persons who may be approached by a black from the Mina coast named Joaquim offering himself as a cook, or even as a waiter; are informed that he is a runaway, and it is requested that he be detained and his master informed, who lives in the Rua do Cano No. 143 upstairs. A reward will be paid.
On November 20 a Mozambique slave named Martinho fled from a ranch at the Engenho Novo. He is still unacquainted with the country, a boy with a beard, and he ran away with a chain attached to his leg. Anyone knowing anything about him should come to Rua do Sabao to the house of Major Manoel dos Santos Portugal, who is his master and will pay for the trouble involved.
From Dona Constanca Umbelina fled a slave named Anna, of the Benguela nation, who is between 18 and 20 years of age, of ordinary height, a thin face, rather-pale in color, big lips, and the upper one very elevated, with some sign of a long gash made by an iron instrument on her face under her right eye. She has elevated breasts, legs that are good-looking but a little bowed. She walks fast and is a little snooty (as we say). She is a market woman, and it is supposed that she is going about on certain city, streets such as Saco do Alferes, Praia Dom Manoel, etc. She wore a violet-colored dress, wine-colored, adorned with little bows, but now she is said to be wearing another dress which is covered with mud, and a kerchief of old cloth round her waist. Whoever does me the favor of capturing her will be well paid, and he can bring her to the Campo de Santa Anna between Rua dos Ciganos and- Rua do Alecrim in the first house close to the wall.
On Saturday the 7th of this month disappeared a black named Pedro, of the Cacange nation, who has been working our on his own, with the following features: youthful, short, full-bodied, and with an ulcer which is still small on his forehead. He was dressed in large gingham trousers and an English shirt, also of gingham. He does not speak Portuguese very well except a few words, and these very badly, and he has been in this city for fourteen months. Anyone who has news of him is asked to come to Rua do Catete just past house No. 6. He will get a good reward.
Fled on November 29, 1821, a black man named Francisco of the Mozambique nation, with the following distinguishing features: short, large, with his toes so cut that they are hardly visible. Trousers and shirt of white cotton, his body entirely covered with welts. He has been going about selling water. Whoever has news of him should come to Rua da Prainha No. 49, where he will be well paid for his trouble . . .
Disappeared on December 1 a black woman of the Angola nation by the name of Josefa. She has a scar on her left leg, and is dressed in the loincloth which she brought from the Valongo market, and has many strings of beads around her neck. She vanished when she went to get water in the Campo. Anyone who knows anything about her should go to the house of Sra. Maria Rita, Rua do Sabao No. 254, or inform this newspaper.
On the 2lst of this month a new slave who recently came from Angola fled from Valongo warehouse No. 106. On his left breast he has a brand mark in the shape of an "S" set in the middle of a triangle. Anyone with news of him should go to the same warehouse, where he will find his master, who will give him a good reward.
Fled on the first of this month a young black boy of the Mina nation named Joaquim. He is a most unusual slave, thin, good-looking, and with two marks of his nation on his face, one on each side, and a scar on the left side of his forehead, and he is a bit too smug. He sold fish in the market, and at that place and all over the city he is known by the surname of Carne Seca {Dried Beef]. His usual route is along the Beach of Dom Manoel dos Mineiros, and along the Rua da Valla and the Largo do Capim. Sometimes he goes about selling vegetables, and at other times he gambles. Whoever captures him should come to the Rua dos Ourives, beneath the hospital of the Third Carmelite Order, No. 77.
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