"I am a slave of the Navy Officers": The great revolt of black sailors for rights in the postabolition period (Rio de Janeiro, 1880-1910)

Abstract

This article inserts the Revolt of the Whip into the history of the first generations of descendants of former slaves in the post-abolition period. It is understood that these men experienced a process of bitter disputes with immigrants, poor whites, and with free black themselves, in the various trades and labor contracts existing at the time. The Armed Forces permitted a possibility of social ascension to blacks, but also discipline based on corporal punishment. Through different sources, the article describes the problems faced and the victories won by blacks - especially sailors in the first decades of the post-abolition period - and the actual Revolt of the Whip, starting with the discourses left by the leaders of the movement, officers, and journalists about racism, slavery, and corporal punishment.