The invisible men of color in the São Paulo black press: how the biography of a black intellectual born in the nineteenth century helps to rethink the historiography of post-abolition in São Paulo

Abstract

This text covers historical and historiographical aspects of the post-emancipation from the newspapers of the Black Press of São Paulo. The black publications appeared since at least the end of the nineteenth century, however, in this city they were considered more combative from the second decade of the twentieth century. The bibliographic relevance attributed to this last period overshadowed the struggle of activists from previous decades, whose documentary heritage is less accessible. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the possibilities to circumvent the problem the absence of the black press in the early years of the twentieth century. In this way, biographical research on black intellectuals born in the late nineteenth century (sometimes still under the yoke of slavery) who was mainly active in the years immediately after the abolition makes understanding the black experience against racism interconnected between both historical periods.