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- Sep 30, 2011
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Through the heat of the Brazilian summer, Licinio Nunes de Miranda sweated in the cemetery.
For three years, the University of Florida doctoral student had been searching for the tomb of Francisco José do Nascimento, the revered Afro-Brazilian abolitionist known as the Sea Dragon. Nascimento’s heroism helped end slavery in Brazil, but despite the Sea Dragon’s renown, no one knew where to pay their respects. His tomb had been lost for more than a century.
While working on his dissertation on abolition in the northeastern state of Ceará, Miranda’s admiration for Nascimento grew. He marveled that a fisherman and sailor from a poor family organized the 1881 strike where Ceará dockworkers refused to board enslaved people onto ships to be sold throughout the country. Slavery, a cornerstone of Brazil’s economy for centuries, was outlawed in Ceará in 1884 and nationwide in 1888.
www.news.ufl.edu
That is one hell of a find.
For three years, the University of Florida doctoral student had been searching for the tomb of Francisco José do Nascimento, the revered Afro-Brazilian abolitionist known as the Sea Dragon. Nascimento’s heroism helped end slavery in Brazil, but despite the Sea Dragon’s renown, no one knew where to pay their respects. His tomb had been lost for more than a century.
While working on his dissertation on abolition in the northeastern state of Ceará, Miranda’s admiration for Nascimento grew. He marveled that a fisherman and sailor from a poor family organized the 1881 strike where Ceará dockworkers refused to board enslaved people onto ships to be sold throughout the country. Slavery, a cornerstone of Brazil’s economy for centuries, was outlawed in Ceará in 1884 and nationwide in 1888.
Lost and found: The tomb of the Sea Dragon, Brazil’s famous abolitionist
<p>A history student embarks on a three-year quest to find the resting place of an Afro-Brazilian hero.</p>
www.news.ufl.edu
That is one hell of a find.
