Every Brazilian who passed by the school benches remembers the history classes that told about September 7, 1822, when Dom Pedro I proclaimed the Independence of Brazil.
Yes, that’s the story that’s in the textbooks. However, we know that it was not only the Portuguese who were here, but also indigenous people, enslaved blacks and women.
But where are these characters? Why doesn’t anyone talk about them during this period? According to historian and professor at Uerj Álvaro Nascimento, blacks, indigenous people and women did not appear because they were not important people for the political elite linked to Brazil’s power in Portugal.
This is one of the reasons that explains this historical erasure. Nascimento adds that the Independence of Brazil in 1822 was a dispute between whites, colonizers, who wanted to re-colonize the country. “As early as 1823, these characters begin to appear. We had great politicians from the 19th century, Machado de Assis himself, who was the founder of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, Luís Gama, Lima Barreto, and many others.”
Nascimento also remembers other people who were not famous, but who became an important symbol of war heroism, as was the case of Marcílio Dias in the Paraguayan war.
“Luísa Mahin herself, mother of Luís Gama, who today is one of the most important names, one of the greatest references in history, in law in Brazil, in law in Brazil. His mother is one of the founders who were there.”
During history, several black men and women participated in the construction of the country, not only with struggles and wars, but leaving an important legacy of love and fundamental cultural values for the formation of Brazil. These women, indigenous and black, are very little remembered or completely erased in the history of the country.
This is what proves the student Giovana Cecília da Silva, 17, when stating that, in her opinion, precisely these characters are the ones that are missing in the story that is told at school.
“We grow up having a vision from the history book that Independence was the Emperor, in that rush. We don’t see that other people were involved. That’s why it’s so important to re-signify this story and bring up people who represented a lot and who still do, because I think from that we can understand why these people were discredited. We didn’t hear anything about the struggle of blacks, women and indigenous people”, reflects Giovana.
She believes that learning about these personalities is important because they were the ones who took the first steps to get us to where we are today. “If today we can talk about these issues and fight for minorities, it’s because they started back there.”
For historian Lilian Schwartz, the history of Brazil is profoundly masculine and does not give women the leading role they actually had.
“The few women we know of in history were the daughters of important men, like Princess Isabel, daughter of Dom Pedro II. This is a very important issue that we need to change in our understanding, in our imagination of Independência.”
Lilian also remembers Maria Leopoldina, wife of Dom Pedro, who was always an active voice in the sense of pressuring Dom Pedro to sponsor the break with the Portuguese metropolis. “She was a naturalist, she was wise, she spoke several languages. Before coming to Brazil, she studied what Brazil was, she came with a scientific mission. So she was a fundamental architect for Independence.”
Still in this scenario, there were other important women such as Maria Quitéria, who wanted to participate in the independence struggles. In portraits, she always appears dressed as a soldier. “She disguised herself as a man to be able to take part in the independence struggles”, says the historian.
There is also the story of Maria Felipa, an enslaved woman who managed to hold back the Portuguese troops using herbs and plants that irritated the skin of the Portuguese, and Joana Angélica, a nun who did not allow the Portuguese to enter the convent where she participated.
“These are just a few examples of women who made Independence and are examples of how future generations and present generations need to study the place of women in Brazilian political processes much more”, emphasizes Lilian.
For experts on the subject, this story needs to be retold as it really happened. “It is essential that we, as black university professors, continue to enter universities, developing and researching the history of Brazil, the black people, as well as the indigenous people and women, because if it doesn’t seem like it’s just a history made by white people, heirs of an entire European legacy. Brazil is not just that, the Brazil of Independence is an incredible transformation. If there were no blacks and indigenous people in the construction of this history, this Brazil would not be what it is today”.
Source: CNN Brasil
