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Esperança Garcia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with DC Comics character Esperanza Garcia.
Esperança Garcia
Statue of Garcia at Central de Artesanato Mestre Dezinho, Teresina
Bornc. 1751
Fazenda Algodões, Colonial Brazil
Signature

Esperança Garcia (born c. 1751) was an enslaved Afro-Brazilian and likely Creole woman in Brazil who is who is considered to have written the first earliest known slave petition in Brazil.[1][2][3][4] On 6 September 1770, she sent a petition to free herself from slavery to the then-president of the province of São José do Piauí, Captaincy of Maranhão (now the current day state of Piauí), Gonçalo Pereira Botelho de Castro. In the petition, she denounced the abuse and maltreatment of her and her son by the overseer of Fazenda Algodões.[5]

Biography

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Early life

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Garcia was born on a plantation called Fazenda Algodões, owned by the Jesuits in what is now the town of Nazaré do Piauí. While there is no existing documentation of her birth or death date, she is believed to have been born at around 1751. She was also likely Creole. It was on this Jesuit farm where she learned how to read and write.[4] At the age of 9, with the order made by the Marquis de Pombal,[3] she was expelled from Brazil and was forcibly taken as a slave to the house of captain Antônio Vieira de Couto. Her duties as a slave included making flour, cleaning cotton, weaving hammocks, and extracting castor oil for the purpose of making lamps. She married an Angolan named Ignácio Garcia, who was 30 years older than her, and the pair had at least 2 children together. She was a practicing Catholic.[1]

Adulthood

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On 6 September 1770, she penned a letter to the president of the province of São José do Piauí, Gonçalo Pereira Botelho de Castro, denouncing the abuse she had suffered and petitioning to free herself from slavery. She described her life while as a slave “very unhappy”, and claims that she and her first son were beaten.[6] She had asked, among other things, to return to Fazenda Algodões to have her daughter baptized there.[2][3][5]

The petition she wrote to the governor is considered the first letter written by a woman in the modern-day state of Piauí, which came to be a precursor to advocacy work in the state.[2][7]

She fled a little after the petition was sent, reappearing in a list of forcibly enslaved people at Fazenda Algodões. The list, dated 1778, showed that she married Ignácio, who was of Angolan origin, and had 2 children.[8]

Legacy

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In 1979, Esperanca’s letter was rediscovered, and she became an icon for the black movement in Piauí, a state in Brazil. Her letter is also considered an important work to the origins of Afro-Brazilian women's literature.[9] In the state of Piauí, the day she sent the letter, 6 September, is commemorated as Black Consciousness Day in the state.[10]

A biography about her was written by author Jarid Arraes as part of her 2015 cordel collection and book Heroínas Negras Brasileiras em 15 cordéis.[11]

In 2017, the Zumbi dos Palmares Memorial, a space dedicated to Black culture in the state capital of Teresina, was renovated and renamed the Esperança Garcia Memorial.[12]

In 2019, she was inducted into the Book of Steel at the Pantheon of the Fatherland, which commemorates and honors national heroes. The legislation to do so was put forth by federal deputy Margarete Coelho of Piauí.[13]

In 2019 as well, the Estação Primeira de Mangueira samba school in Rio de Janeiro made an homage to Garcia's memory in their 2019 song "História pra Ninar Gente Grande".[14][15] She was honored again by the Em Cima da Hora [pt] samba school in 2023.[16]

Many organizations founded by Afro-Brazilian women in Piauí bear Garcia’s name.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Mulher negra escravizada no século XVIII, Esperança Garcia é reconhecida como a primeira advogada do Brasil". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 25 November 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Sinara Gumieri (ed.). "Mulher, negra e escravizada: Esperança Garcia, a primeira advogada do Piauí". Carta Capital. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Esperança Garcia". Heróis de Todo Mundo. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade". enslaved.org. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  5. ^ a b Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (ed.). "A carta da escrava 'Esperança Garcia' de Nazaré do Piauí: uma narrativa de testemunho precursora da literatura afro-brasileira" (PDF). LiterAfri. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  6. ^ Mott, Luiz (31 May 2017). "Garcia, Esperança" (PDF). Oxford African American Studies Center: 2.
  7. ^ "1ª advogada do Brasil foi mulher negra que denunciou maus tratos e abusos". www.uol.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  8. ^ João Vieira de França et all (ed.). "A carta de Esperança Garcia: uma mensagem de coragem, cidadania e ousadia" (PDF). Cultura Digital. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  9. ^ Helio Ferreira de Souza (ed.). "A "carta" da escrava Esperança Garcia do Piauí: uma narrativa precursora da literatura afro-brasileira" (PDF). Annals of the XIV Congresso Internacional ABRALIC. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  10. ^ "Esperança Garcia é enaltecida em sessão do Dia da Consciência Negra". Teresina FM. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Heroínas negras brasileiras - Jarid Arraes - Grupo Companhia das Letras". www.companhiadasletras.com.br. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  12. ^ "Após reforma, Memorial Esperança Garcia será reaberto". Cidade Verde. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  13. ^ PROJETO DE LEI N.º 3.772-A, DE 2019 (Da Sra. Margarete Coelho). Inscreve o nome de Esperança Garcia no Livro dos Heróis e Heroínas da Pátria; tendo parecer da Comissão de Cultura, pela aprovação (relatora: DEP. BENEDITA DA SILVA).
  14. ^ Hérlon Moraes (ed.). "Mangueira lembra Esperança Garcia, a primeira advogada do Piauí". Cidade Verde. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  15. ^ "Mangueira divulga seu enredo para 2019". Estação Primeira de Mangueira Site Oficial. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  16. ^ Frois, Eduardo (19 February 2023). "Em Cima da Hora exalta a potência de 'Esperança Garcia', mas peca na parte plástica". Carnavalesco. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
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