MARCADAS PELO MEDO: o Cotidiano das Crianças Negras após a Libertação dos Escravos a partir do Conto “Negrinha” de Monteiro Lobato (1888-1920)

Abstract

The present research aims to analyze from the short story “Negrinha”, by Monteiro Lobato (1982) the issue of daily life and representation of black children in Brazil at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century, post-liberation of slaves, also emphasizing enactment of the Free Womb Law of 1871, whose children of slave mothers were born “free”. In this sense, in the course of this work we sought through the life trajectories of these children, who were marked by fear and violence in the most different spaces of slave society, recognize them as a historical subject. Therefore, it was proposed a reflection on childhood and the prejudices suffered by children through the analysis of character Negrinha from the short story by Monteiro Lobato. It was possible to understand the problems that surrounded slave labor, such as: the exploitation of work and the power of domination of slave masters on captive children, especially in rural areas, in which the role of the black child was to serve the white family, both in the economic and family spheres.