Frederico Baptista de Souza: the formation of a Black editor in the South Atlantic

Abstract

ABSTRACT Frederico Baptista de Souza was born to a slave mother during the period of the Free Womb Law in Brazil (1871). After slavery’s abolition, Souza campaigned in favor of full citizenship for formerly enslaved people. Black newspapers in São Paulo originated from the clubs of people who were prohibited from enjoying the clubs attended by whites regardless of their class. I examine the Black press’ rise through Souza, founder of one of the region’s oldest and longest running racial groups, the Dramatic and Recreational Guild Kosmos. Apart from coordinating, producing, and editing papers, Souza wrote op-eds and figured among those who shaped public opinion about Brazilian racial matters, often articulating ideas and concepts from other regions of the world, especially the “uplift generation” of the United States. Souza’s life is evidence of a once thriving and engaging Black press in this corner of the Atlantic that was São Paulo.