"Of captivity rigors to captivity in jail": Post-abolition freedom in Sergipe

Abstract

Th e present article addresses the world of freedmen of Sergipe in the nineteenth century. It focuses on the attitude of "ex-slaves" prisoners who fi led a lawsuit in order to conquer freedom after the Abolition, which ended slavery in Brazil in 1888. Th e main idea is to show how "ex-slaves" - who have been underestimated by historiography for decades - sought to capitalize on the new rights which were given to them by law. Th ese individuals took hold of Republican prerogatives and asserted their interests in an emerging citizenship language by conquering the bars of courts.