Racial violence and lynchings spread throughout the United States, and Southern states that lost the American Civil War began to enforce strict discrimination laws.
In the early 1920s, a group of black Americans decided to leave behind the violence and racism they faced in the United States and start a new life in Brazil.
This was a time when Brazil was specifically looking for immigrants to work in the coffee plantations. Impressed by the Brazilian government’s advertisements in newspapers abroad, Americans hoped to find a “race haven” free of prejudices and opportunities for all.
However, when the Brazilian government learned that this immigrant group consisted of blacks, there was a mobilization to prevent them from entering the country, and the issue began to shape the debate in the press and in Congress.
Concerned with preserving the image of “racial democracy” Brazil proudly cultivated, veto supporters claimed that Americans were rejected not because they were black, but because they could disrupt public order. The motivation would therefore be national security, not racial.
This chapter is one of several analyzed by historian Ousmane Power-Greene, a professor at Clark University in Massachusetts, in a book that will deal with the experiences of black Americans leaving the United States between the end of the 19th century and the end of the 19th century. the beginning of the 20th century. Settlement of the 20th century in other countries.
“Some studies are devoted to black Americans who immigrated to Liberia, others to Canada, Mexico or Haiti. But there is no all-encompassing picture,” Power-Greene tells BBC News Brazil. . My goal is to tell the immigration story of black Americans more broadly.”
brazilian romance
If people of all races lived in harmony in Brazil, at least internationally, the reality faced by the black population in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century was quite different.
The period of Reconstruction, which began after the end of the American Civil War (1861-65), resulted in advances for black Americans. But soon the conquests began to reverse, and by the 1920s this part of the population had already lost many of the conquered rights after slavery ended.
Racist violence and lynchings spread across the country, and the war-losing Southern states began to impose strict discrimination laws.
“From the 1880s on, conditions for black Americans began to deteriorate with high levels of violence,” says Power-Greene.
The historian points out that at that time the majority of the black population continued to live in the South. Faced with increasing violence and restrictions, they started the “Great Migration,” a movement in which millions left the region and moved to other parts of the country in search of better conditions.
In this context, many began to consider leaving the United States for African countries or even Latin America, where they hoped to obtain full citizenship.
One of the main figures of the movement advocating a return to Africa was the political activist and black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, founder of the Unia (Universal Association for Black Progress and the League of African Communities), which existed in the 1920s. in more than 40 countries.
Power-Greene notes that as the project of sending black Americans to Africa began to encounter obstacles from various colonial powers, UNIA members began to focus on other parts of the world, including Brazil.
“At the time, there was an idea among black Americans that places like Brazil retained much of the African way of being, culture, and religion,” says Power-Greene. “So there was the romance of Brazil.”
‘Unlimited Opportunities’ in Brazil
At the same time, many black Americans contemplated leaving their country, while the Brazilian government was proclaiming in foreign newspapers its desire to receive immigrants and the promise of jobs, benefits, and even subsidies for families to settle in Brazil.
Since the end of the 19th century, Brazil has sought to attract immigrants to work in agriculture and also to help settle in remote areas inland. In the following years, millions of Germans, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Japanese, Syrians and Lebanese, among others, arrived in the country.
In their 1988 study, “In Search of the African-American ‘Eldorado: Attempts by North American Blacks to Enter Brazil in the 1920s,” in 1920, historians Teresa Meade and Gregory Alonso Pirio listed several examples of this. Advertisements on the subject were published in the American black press.
In 1920, the Baltimore African-American newspaper of the city of Baltimore detailed its offer of airfare, accommodation, and long-term loans to workers and farmers seeking to settle in Brazil.
According to the newspaper, Brazil offered “unlimited opportunities” without racial discrimination and with a population of more indigenous, black, and mestizo than whites. “A black man can become president of Brazil without further comment than a white man is elected here (in the US),” the newspaper said.
In 1921, in articles in the Chicago Defender, the main newspaper of the black press in the United States at the time, writer ER James spoke of “abundant opportunity in Brazil for all, regardless of race, creed, or colour.”
Historians note that such a message appealed to black Americans who were “disappointed” at the chances of settling in Africa and “conditioned to view Brazil as a racial haven”. This image has been projected abroad since the last century, supported by reports from foreigners visiting Brazil.
Because the Brazilian government did not publicize its reluctance to accept black immigrants abroad, US black press articles “mistakenly assumed that Brazil’s official appeal for American immigrants included blacks”.
‘Freedom and Wealth in a Fertile Country’
In 1920, a group of black Americans from the city of Chicago formed a company called the Brazilian-American Colonization Syndicate (Bacs) to purchase land in Mato Grosso to establish agricultural colonies.
The company soon began advertising in major US black media outlets. One reproduced by Meade and Pirio is “Want freedom and wealth in a land of abundance? Unlimited opportunity and equality?” she asked. And he concluded: “Then buy land in Brazil.”
Historians remember that the branches of Garvey’s organization Unia were connected with the colonization project. They pass on information that was mentioned by an informant to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation, US federal police) at a Unia meeting of the establishment of a “black republic in northern Brazil”.
But despite the desire to attract immigrants and the pride of Brazil’s image of racial tolerance abroad, Brazilian authorities had no intention of welcoming black families.
Historians point out that there was an effort to “whiten” the population in Brazil at the time. Meade and Pirio wrote in 1988, “A few generations later, they expected black Brazilians and European immigrants to mingle in such a way that a mixed-race or ‘whitened’ population would predominate.”
Learning of BACS’ intentions, Brazilian authorities tried to thwart the project by vetoing land concessions and refusing visa applications.
‘Division of races we don’t know’
The issue of black Americans sparked controversy in Brazil at a time when there was a great deal of debate over immigration in the country, including among Europeans. In July 1921, federal lawmakers Cincinato Braga (SP) and Andrade Bezerra (PE) introduced a bill banning black immigration.
The proposal even received a favorable view from the Instituto dos Advogados do Brasil, but failed in the Assembly, which was classified by opponents as an “attack on the Constitution”, “dignity of the black race” and “Christian faith”. Critics pointed out that “under the Constitution” there was no “racial privilege” or distinction “between whites, blacks and pardos”.
Some commentators in the Brazilian press harshly criticized the idea of banning black Americans from immigrating to the country. Many, including journalist Assis Chateubriand, found the proposal unconstitutional.
Others, however, defended the bill, describing these immigrants as “undesirable” and citing “a long tradition of hatred” by the black population in the United States and “fear that they will unleash racial segregation that we do not accept” in Brazil. to know”.
A commentator in Jornal do Brasil summed up the stance of many in favor of vetoing Americans: “Not because they are black, but because they have in their souls a sense of hostility towards white people that would be in our social circle of order, danger, and evil”.
Historians also point to a fear that an activism inspired by ideas, as advocated by Marcus Garvey, will gain power in Brazil. At that time, black activists and organizations fighting racism and inequality in Brazil were often violently suppressed.
Meade and Pirio wrote in 1988 that “Brazil’s massive effort in the 1920s to prevent blacks from entering the country was not just part of its whitening strategy. It was to raise race awareness.”
USA and Brazil cooperation
Historians highlight the cooperation that existed at the time between Brazilian and American officials.
In the 1920s, several black groups advocating immigration were tracked down by the U.S. government, worried about outbreaks of militancy. In their study, Meade and Pirio reported that FBI agents passed information on the activities of some of these groups to Brazilian consular officials.
At the end of 1921, secretly, “Immigration officials in Brazil advised consuls in the United States to refuse to issue a visa to any black person.”
These refusals, which often included tourists, often sparked protests, but officials in both countries denied that there was any formal agreement to prevent black Americans from traveling to Brazil.
Thus, throughout this decade, as more news emerged about black Americans being denied visas, the black US press continued to publish articles praising the absence of alleged racial bias in Brazil.
Despite this incident, Power-Greene recalls, other immigration projects were successful and black Americans established colonies in many countries.
The historian cites examples from the early 19th century, not only from Liberia and African countries, but also from Canada and the Dominican Republic, among other places in the Americas.
“Immigration movements are often filled with disappointment and setbacks,” he notes. “It’s important to recognize the lack of success. But it’s also important to understand the context. It’s also important to look at these stories collectively.”
‘This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-6187898.‘
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source: Noticias
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