Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and US

Paper Summary:

Slavery has existed throughout history in many different societies, but it was not until the Atlantic Slave Trade transporting massive numbers of Africans to the newly settled colonies of the Americas, that the institution of slavery took place on such a large scale. Unique to slavery occurring anywhere prior, slavery in the Americas became a key necessity to survival in the New World. This paper shows how the United States and Brazil account for a large part of the population of blacks. In fact, with the exception of the small island countries of the Caribbean, on the two continents of the New World, no other counts as large a number or as large a proportion of blacks in its population as do the United States or Brazil. This paper shows that in both countries, Africans were introduced and held as slaves for most of their histories, and Brazil and the United States were the two largest slave societies of modern times. Labor demands for work on the sugar plantations, cotton fields, tobacco lands, coffee regions and the mining industry in Brazil, and the rice areas, cotton fields and tobacco plantations in the United States (specifically the South) constituted the need for slave labor in both regions. The paper shows that although the institutions of slavery in these two countries had many similarities, there are many distinct characteristics that differ greatly from each other. From the years of slavery, to emancipation and continuing on to the more recent movements toward equality among the black and white races; Brazil and the United States have taken different paths based on the unique circumstances each country has faced.

From the Paper:

"Although the treatment of slaves in Brazil was harsher than in the United States, manumission, the practice of freeing slaves, occurred more frequently in Brazil. Slaves that were no longer useful to Brazilian masters were often freed to save the expense of caring for them. The relationship between slave and master differed greatly between the two countries. Although Brazil and the United States were both settled by Europeans, the cultural customs of the English (that settled America) and the Portuguese (which settled Brazil) varied eminently from each other. When the Portuguese settled Brazil, there were very few women that accompanied the men. There was a very unbalance ratio of men and women, which led the Portuguese men to have sexual relations with slave women."

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