Blacks and education in Mato Grosso in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

In the course of the last years of the 19th century, according to ^{Bissigo (2014}), the Census of 1872 revealed that Brazil had a population of 9,930,478 inhabitants⁴⁸. According to the author, this quota was distributed as follows: white 38.1%, black 19.6%, browns 38.2% and indigenous 3.8%⁴⁹. According to these figures, Brazil had a population with a black majority. In Mato Grosso⁵⁰, according to the 1872 Census, this was not different either, because, according to the aforementioned Census, 71.4% of the total inhabitants of the Province corresponded to a non-white population; likewise, 69,8% for the municipality of Cuiabá and 70.7% for the urban part of the same city, which constituted a mostly black population⁵¹. As early as the late 19th century, the data point out that the Empire and the Mato-Grosso state Province had similar characteristics with regard to having a population of black predominance.

On this issue, Table 2, below, shows the general population quantity and in percentages, according to the categories race/color used in the 1890 Census, which corresponded to the two civil parishes that comprised the urban part of the city of Cuiabá, called Sé and São Gonçalo de Pedro II, at that moment.

In addition to the general percentages counted for the aforementioned race/color categories, observations were constructed that correspond to the black presence in public education in Mato Grosso, from 1857, with a main focus in the city of Cuiabá, highlighting black men and black women who were at the head of the public and/or private Mao-Grosso state school, in functions such as students, teachers and managers.

Thus, to demonstrate this scenario, it is necessary to build a glance from data collected in the 1890 Census that show that a quota of black men and black women present in the urban population of Cuiabá city were characterized as ‘knew how to read’ and/or ‘attended school.’ In this sense, data recorded in Mato-Grosso state journals, from 1857 onwards, pointed to the type of school institution in which this quota was present, whether in public or private schools. Thus, to reveal this scenario, ^{Dutra (2017}), which used the data presented in the 1890 Census, was used to demonstrate that, in percentages, the black population was mostly in the Cuiabá city’s school.

With regard to those men and those women who had had had some kind of contact with the school, ^{Dutra (2017}) also found that, in percentage terms, the population characterized as race/color brown constituted the largest group in relation to whites and blacks, among those who knew how to read and/or had attended school⁵⁴.

In the analysis of the racial categories called ‘white’, ‘black’ and ‘brown’ present in the Cuiabá city’s school, it is noteworthy that the apex in ^{Dutra's work (2017}) is on the gender issue. In this respect, the author showed that, in the age group from 20 to 39 years, women of race/color brown exceeded, in percentages, men of race/color brown in public education, in the urban part of the city of Cuiabá, according to data from the 1890 Census presented in Table 3.

The same observations can be made in relation to women considered as black race/color and who lived in the civil parish of Sé. Therefore, according to ^{Dutra (2017}), these data can only be observed in the 20-year age group, as shown in Table 4.

From these observations, it can be seen that, as women moved toward the end of the 19th century, they became the majority in the Cuiabá city’s school. This fact was probably due to the co-education regime that, according to ^{Siqueira (2000}), had vigorously collaborated for the universalization and democratization of education. For the author, although in two-way movement, education, on the one hand, facilitated the entry of girls into a larger school space; on the other hand, it offered the woman a wider professional field, because she would be responsible for teaching in typically female schools and mixed schools, where she was preferred to men.

In this perspective, in order to respond to the central objective of this study, on the extension of the presence of blacks and browns in public/private education in Mato Grosso, ‘fio de Ariana’ was followed. Thus, Table 5 brings to light some of the names of black men and black women, based on records found in the Mato-Grosso state journals, who attended the public and private school in the city of Cuiabá. Thus, the Episcopal Seminary of Conceição, until 1874, was the only secondary school in the Province of Mato Grosso, located in the capital. It is important to highlight that the information in the columns name, year, race and school, which make up Table 5, is central to understanding this issue.

It should be borne in mind that the data recorded in Table 5 inform passages of these subjects from elementary education, public and private secondary education to the preparation of those who wanted to attend higher education, and also those who worked in teaching at the First and Secondary Schools.

From the presence of blacks and browns as students in public and private schools, in the city of Cuiabá/MT, it was observed that the following years reserved prominent places for them, mainly in working as teachers in public education in the Mato-Grosso state Province. In this sense, the Vice-President of Barão de Diamantino Province, on May 3rd, 1875, pointed out that the Teaching School used to produce advantages, although it did not still compensate for the efforts made in favor of it, but that it promised ‘flattering results.’ Thus, it can be said that, according to the information presented in Table 5, those who produced advantages and flattering results were the public and private schools of the city of Cuiabá, which dealt with instructing the youth to help in the composition of the future of the Province.

On this issue, the Inspector General of Instruction Ernesto Camilo Barreto highlighted, in a report sent to the President of the Province, Hermes Ernesto da Fonseca, that Antônio Pereira Catilina da Silva, “[...] a distinguished son of the Seminar” (Report of the General Board of Public Instruction,1880 , page 16), sat in the ‘Casting Chair’ in the Teaching School. In addition, previously the President Barão de Diamantino had previously informed the teachers' profile of the school, and among them, it was noted that Antônio Pererira Catilina da Silva taught the subject ‘Grammatica e Analyse da respectiva língua nacional’.[Grammar and Analysis of the respective national language] Regarding the performance in the Primary public school , Sebastião José da Costa Maricá, on June 28th, 1857, requested payment of 300$ (three hundred reis) for the excess of 75 students who taught at the Escola de Primeiro ‘Grao’[Primary School] of the capital. From public and private schools in Mato Grosso, Felix Benedicto de Miranda was announced by Doctor Dormevil José dos Santos Malhado as a ‘distinct son of the teaching school,’ which, together with other male masters and female masters “[...] concerned in fulfilling the obligations imposed on them the position of masters[...]”, integrated the schools Primary Schools of the capital in the decade of 1880 (Report of the General Board of Public Instruction, 1880, page 16).

Thus, the scenario about the presence of blacks and browns in public and private schools in the city of Cuiabá/MT, especially as students, is outlined, then light is cast on ‘the flattering results’ which, as Barão de Diamantino said, both the Teaching School and Lyceu Cuiabano were producing. In this regard, it is noted that Table 6, later, reflects the black presence in the trajectory of public education as male teachers and female teachers in Mato Grosso, between 1857 and 1911.

The Teaching School, Liceu Cuiabano and the subjects of the study

To give an account of the nuances that show the passage of blacks and browns in the Mato-Grosso state public education, two institutions have fulfilled important roles in their training, the Teaching School and Liceu Cuiabano. Created on February 3rd, 1874, the Teaching School was responsible for the graduation of the first teachers in 1877; thus, the brown Félix Benedicto de Miranda Pardo went through this school. As for the Liceu, it was created on December 3rd, 1879 in the management of Doctor Dormevil José dos Santos Malhado, who, according to ^{Siqueira (2000}), was adept at the principle of compulsory education, striving to make it valid in Mato Grosso, especially in primary education.

In this perspective, establishing a dialog between this study and other Brazilian studies that respond to passages about the black in public education, the contributions of ^{Silva (2000}) and ^{Fonseca (2007}) are pointed out. It is noted that the text in question resembles the work carried out by Fonseca in the production of percentage data on the presence of blacks, browns and cabras in Minas Gerais schools between 1820 and 1850. In this sense, ^{Silva (2000}) brings the experience of Teacher Pretextato dos Passos and Silva in claiming a school for black and mixed boys at the Court. Thus, it is emphasized that, in the author's work, it is possible to indicate similarities between the paths built around a school experienced by Pretextato at the Court and those experienced by black men and black women in public/private education in Mato Grosso. It is noteworthy that the difference between the work in progress and the text of ^{Silva (2000}) is that, while Professor Pretextato builds a via crucis by applying for permission to create his school, in the trajectories of blacks and meadows built in Cuiabá, it was observed, according to the documents, these subjects did not find an obstacle⁶³ to their insertion, performance and permanence in the Mato-Gross state public instruction.

In this same line, other studies about the black in public education in Brazil may still be pointed out, namely: ^{Barros (2005}), on schooling of the black population in São Paulo; ^{Pinto (2006}), who provides a glance at the black press in the 19th century; and ^{Cruz (2009}), who deals with the educational issues of black in Maranhão within the slavery system. To add to this question, see Table 6.

In this respect, Table 6 was constructed from data taken from the 1890 Census; thus, the document recorded a black race/color teacher and five of brown race/color. Among these, only Teacher Sebastião José da Costa Maricá did not have his graduation at the Teaching School of Cuiabá, since the others went through there. In addition, there is an exception also with teacher Jorgiana Carvalho de Oliveira, who lived in São Gonçalo de Pedro II Parish, and the others lived and worked in the Sé parish.

In this perspective, it is important to note that these data that reveal the presence of black men and black women in teaching may be higher, the assertive can be confirmed in ^{Paião (2006}), who presented the profile of 17 female teachers working in private schools in the Province of Mato Grosso, in the 19th century, casting light on their race/color. Thus, two of them were characterized as browns, Bernardina Maria Elvira Rich and Jorgiana Carvalho de Oliveira. ^{Paião (2006}) also highlighted teacher Izabel Perpétua de Mesquita, who had been characterized as being of white race/color in the 1890 Census, but, according to the author, and referring to the death record of Izabel de Mesquita, he pointed out that “[...]we have in ‘her a woman of brunette color’” (page 80, our emphasis). On this issue, Figure 1 shows the Teaching School Teacher Bernardina Maria Elvira rich, from Mato-Grosso state education, journalist and writer, as ^{Paião (2006}) pointed out.

Source: Extracted from ^{Paião (2006}, page 84)

Figure 1 Teacher Bernardina Maria Elvira Rich 

Thus, from the observations made earlier, the thesis is reinforced that the number of male black teachers and female black teachers resident and/or working in the city of Cuiabá in the 19th century was constituted of a greater quantitative. In view of this, the data collected from the Reports of Presidents of Provinces, the journals of time and works that respond to the construction of the history of education in Mato Grosso demonstrate that, in addition to the data from the Census of 1890, other subjects were included in the Cuiabá city/Mato Grosso state public instruction as regents and/or managers of public or private schools, as shown in Table 7.

Thus, data collected from information recorded in the sources mentioned increased the number of black teachers from six to 12. By taking into consideration the questions concerning non-formal education, other subjects may be included, such as Adão da the Costa e Faria and Bento José Rodrigues, who developed professionalization activities through the artisans in factories located in the city of Cuiabá, in 1879. Adão da Costa e Faria⁷⁰, for example, was master of the leather worker factory, saddlery factory and shoemaker section,⁷¹ and commanded 19 workers and one apprentice. In the same year, Bento José Rodrigues⁷² acted as master of the locksmith's and commanded 14 workers and a ‘mandador’[Courier]⁷³. In this regard, it should be noted that the extension of the division of black men and black women in the Mato-Grosso state education followed up until 1911, the final year imposed for the construction of this text.

About this increase in the number of male black teachers and female black teachers in public and private education schools in Cuiabá, it is important to understand what ^{Fonseca (2007}, p.20) called “[...] an invisibility of blacks [...]”, in research in the historiography of Brazilian education. According to the author:

There is a pattern of treatment in relation to blacks in the Brazilian educational historiography and its main characteristic is the promotion of the invisibility of the members of this racial group. This is manifested in the history of education works through an explicit or veiled statement that, in Brazil, ‘blacks did not attend schools’ (^{Fonseca, 2007}, p. 8, emphasis added).

^{Fonseca (2007}) points out that, in general, this statement is directed toward a characterization of the periods in which slavery was in force and has as basic presupposition the idea that, in this system, the relationship between blacks and schools could only be thought of in legal terms so that slaves attended these institutions⁷⁴, which were interpreted without taking into account the possibility of their relationship with the black population (^{Fonseca, 2007}). On this issue, the sources have revealed an extension of ‘literate’ blacks and browns in the capital of the Province of Mato Grosso and that, possibly used it to ascend socially. Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that the province of Mato Grosso had mainly a mixed-race and bastard population. As pointed out by ^{Silva (1995}), “[...] ‘it was available to meet the needs of settlement and defense of the border’” (p. 177, our emphasis), and that it could possibly be an important and favorable characteristic for the presence of blacks and browns in the Cuiabá city’s schools.

Insisting on ‘a black invisibility’ in the historiography of Brazilian education, it was noticed that, in some works that deal with the history of education in Mato Grosso, the category ‘race/color’ was not used as an important datum. In this sense, it was observed that, by bringing contributions on the public education of Mato Grosso, ^{Siqueira (2000}) referred to the men and women who experienced the construction of Mato Grosso's education, using data from the Census of 1890; however, it was noted that the issue of race/color was not the object of its questions.

Thus, the name of men who were characterized as being of race/color brown by the mentioned Census appear in the texts of ^{Siqueira (2000}), namely Dormevil José dos Santos Malhado, Felix Benedicto de Miranda and Sebastião José da Costa Maricá. According to the Census of 1890, these black men were part of the racial group built by browns, according to the Census research carried out at that time. Therefore, it was noted that all these men were invisibized, in terms of their racial profiles, in most of the works that deal with the historiography of education in Mato Grosso. About Dormevil José dos Santos Malhado⁷⁵, the work in the field of history also mention him, but without mentioning his ethnic-racial belonging, as well as Antônia Augusta Gaudie Ley, Antônio Pereira Catilina da Silva and others.

To culminate the construction of this study on the presence of blacks and browns in the Mato-Grosso state public education, between 1857 and 1911, it is worth noting that, if the subjects referred to above left their contributions to the historiography of the education of Mato Grosso, with the progress of the research until 1911, it was observed that some of these subjects⁷⁶ remained in the disputes, and other blacks and browns that were referred to in the 1890 Census succeeded and expanded their presence, either in teaching or in the management of the works related to public education in the province/state in question. In this regard, the Public Instruction Reports, between 1892 and 1911, point out issues such as appointment/dismissal, opening and/or ownership of private schools having, above all, browns on the front line.

The 1892 State Instruction Report of Mato Grosso by Director Pedro Gardes stated that the Teacher Antônio Pereira Catilina Silva taught the subject Portuguese grammar, at the Day School of the female sex, of the State of Mato Grosso, and was appointed on April 8th, 1889 (Gardes, 1892). Furthermore, Mrs. Bernardina Maria Elvira Rich and Mrs. Antônia Augusta Gaudieley were effective teachers of primary schools located in the capital, and Félix Benedito de Miranda had retired on June 26th, 1890. Regarding of what is called succession and/or enlargement of the presence of blacks and browns in the Cuiabá city’ school, Pedro Gardes (1892, p. 6) reported that, among the schools “ [...] which were recommended to the esteemed parents of the family [...]”, was the school of the citizen Joaquim da Silva Rondon⁷⁷, located in the São Gonçalo parish, and Sé Parish, that of the citizen Chirstian Carstens, who is suggested to be the brown João Christião Carastens.

It is likely that João Christião Carstens had transformed his school into a day school and taken as partner Januário da Silva Rondon, giving the name Antheneo Cuyabano. Thus, as ^{O Matto-Grosso (1895}) states, the Atheneo Cuyabano would have been inaugurated on May 17th, 1894; thus, it was suggested that this school could have been a day school for boys, and that, by disagreement, the partnership between these teachers had been broken on February 23rd, 1895.

Referring to the issue in which it is pointed out that black men played a role in educational management in Mato Grosso, at the end of the Empire and at the beginning of the Republic, it is noted that, after the memorable passage of Doctor Dormevil José do Santos Malhado at the General Board of Public Instruction, between 1880 and 1884, in the 1892 Public Instruction Report, Pedro Gardes informed that the teacher Antônio Pereira Catilina⁷⁸ was in charge of Principal of the Day School of female sex of the State of Mato Grosso. Thus, other black men performed activities in the School Inspectorate in several localities⁷⁹ of Mato Grosso, either as inspector or substitute. About public education in Mato Grosso, the Principal Pedro Gardes presented seven causes responsible for its poor situation in 1892, pointing out, among them, the lack of inspection. In this way, he pointed out that:

The schools are under the inspection of the school inspectors, but this job is free and its exercise takes time for other occupations, this results in inspectors rarely visiting schools and were satisfied passing the certificate of attendance of teacher when this presented the school monthly map to him (^{Gardes, 1892}, p. 5).

In this sense, for the year 1892, 37 names of inspectors were presented in the report together with their respective substitutes. In 1902, according to the Public Instruction Report provided by its principal, Januário da Silva Rondon, the citizen João Chistião Carnstens had been exonerated from the office of School Inspector of Corumbá City, by the act of the State Presidency, on May 7th of the same year (^{Rondon, 1902}). In this respect, it is possible that the exonerated had the opportunity to change his profession, because, in agreement with ^{O Matto-Grosso (1905}), João Christião Carstens worked as a lawyer and a consignee in the city of Corumbá, at Rua 15 de Novembro, nº 10.

Januário Rondon was recorded in 1890, 22 years old, profession ‘Min. Tra’⁸⁰, student of the seminary, single, Catholic and knew how to read. Therefore, it is questioned: is it possible that the record could be that of Januário da Silva Rondon, the teacher, substitute inspector of the São Gonçalo de Pedro II parish and principal of public Instruction of Mato Grosso, between 1903 and 1906? Thus, in relation to the racial profile, it is noted that both have the same filiation. On this issue, a fact that helps in the possibility of Januário Rondon and Januário da Silva Rondon being the same person is the work of the teacher Maria da Glória Sá Rosa, who worked with the memories of the teacher Clarice Rondon, daughter of Januário da Silva Rondon. During an interview, Clarice Rondon referred to the teacher Januário da Silva Rondon as follows: “I was four years old and I can only remember my father for the photographs. ‘As he was Marshal Rondon’s cousin, he looked very much like him, brunette, tall, thick moustache, straight hair (our emphasis)⁸¹. In this sense, the reports of the General Board of Public Instruction of Mato Grosso, corresponding to the years 1903 to 1905, were signed by Januário da Silva Rondon.

At the end of the time frame chosen for this study, it is noteworthy that the 1911 published Instruction Report, in the ‘appointments’ session, indicated the citizen Manoel⁸² Pereira Cuiabano to the position of Alternate School Inspector in vila do Rosário, by act of the state government, on June 11th of that year.