Education as “runaway slaves'” experience in newspapers from Pará state

Abstract

This paper aims at identifying and analyzing education as runaway slaves', looking at the ones whose escape was publicized in newspapers from Pará state, during the second half of the 19th century, mainly Gazeta Oficial (1858-1860) and A Constituição (1876-1884). Thus, the research is part of the field of History of Education, adopting a historical approach, as well as search for publications within the Digital Newspaper Library of Brazil, with advertisements related experience education on the slaves’ escapes published in both conservative newspapers being analyzed, through Ginzburg’s (1989) Index Method. To do so, we are based on the ideas of some authors, such as: Gondra and Schueler (2008), Thompson (1981; 2001), Chalhoub (2012), Cunha (2000), Fonseca and Barros (2016), Bezerra Neto (2020) among others. It is concluded the slaves’ education experiences herein analyzed pointed out to skills such as reading, writing and other forms of specialized literacy, it also was possible to observe education experiences peculiarities through professions and skills learned, despite the slavery they were submitted to in Grão-Pará Province, during the second half of the 19th century. In addition to, there was financial value being attributed to runaway slaves’ education, which is remarked by calls for slave captures, followed by significant rewards.