A liberdade é negra, mas a igualdade é branca: racialização nos Campos de Palmas/PR, (1870-1910)

Abstract

The work proposed here, through the analysis of a police investigation and a criminal case, proposes to reflect on the post-abolition process of racialization in the city of Palmas in Paraná in the late 19th century and early 20th century. At first, we dedicated ourselves to analyzing the formation of the society of Palmas, using as sources Reports of the Presidents of the Province of Paraná, demographic censuses (1872 and 189) to identify the immigration processes to the region of Palmas/PR. Next, we develop a debate on the abolitionist laws that emerged during the 19th century, which culminated in the end of slavery. We used laws and letters of manumission and ecclesiastical records, located in the Notary of Palmas. We also carried out a study of the book of records and baptism of the children of the slave woman, available at the Curia de Palmas. In the second moment, we analyzed the facts that dealt with the disappearance and death of the old black Jeronymo, where we built a narrative since his disappearance, the opening of the investigation, understanding who are the people who are mentioned throughout the process, to understand who was the society around Jeronymo. We also focus on the testimony of the first witnesses in the case. We analyzed the cadaveric exhumation records, where a skeleton is found a few months after Jeronymo's disappearance. Jeronymo's case was shelved and reopened in 1906, where witnesses were again summoned to testify, as was Carlos Romback accused of assaulting and consuming the old black man's body. The outcome of the case is analyzed and we hold a debate on the process of racialization for the society of Palmas based on the information that the process brought us.