American Brazilians

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American Brazilians
Festa-confederada-brasil-estados-unidos-santa-barbara-doeste.JPG
Descendants of Americans during Confederado feast in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste
Total population
260,000 [1]
Regions with significant populations
São Paulo  · Espírito Santo  · Rio de Janeiro  · Paraná  · Pará  · Minas Gerais  · Bahia  · Pernambuco
Languages
Brazilian PortugueseAmerican English and Spanish
Religion
Protestantism and Roman Catholicism and others
Related ethnic groups
Other American and Brazilian people, especially Confederados and other European Americans, Brazilian diaspora in English-speaking countries, other White Latin Americans
West and Northern European or Protestant White Brazilians as English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, Scandinavian, Finnish, Latvian, German (ethnic Germans also among Czech, Russian and Polish immigrants), Austrian, Swiss, French, Luxembourger and Belgian Brazilians

An American Brazilian (Portuguese : américo-brasileiro, norte-americano-brasileiro, estadunidense-brasileiro) is a Brazilian person who is of full, partial or predominant American descent or a U.S.-born immigrant in Brazil.

Contents

The Confederados is a cultural sub-group in the nation of Brazil. They are the descendants of people who emigrated from the Confederate States of America to Brazil with their families after the American Civil War.

At the end of the American Civil War in the 1860s, a migration of Confederates to Brazil began, with the total number of immigrants estimated in the thousands. They settled primarily in Southern and Southeastern Brazil: in Americana, Campinas, São Paulo, Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, Juquiá, New Texas, Xiririca (now Eldorado), Rio de Janeiro and Rio Doce. A few other places also received immigrants: one colony settled in Santarém, Pará – in the north on the Amazon River [2] – and the states of Bahia and Pernambuco also received a significant number of American immigrants. [3]

That was one of the main reasons why emperor Dom Pedro II became the first foreign chief of state and head of government to visit the U.S. capital; he also attended the Centennial Exposition in the largest city in Pennsylvania. [4] More recently, other waves of American nationals became residents in the country. [5]

History

An early American family in Americana. Steagall.jpg
An early American family in Americana.

Background and beginning

After the end of the American Civil War, the Confederates found themselves in a very difficult economic situation, having their states completely devastated by the war. Not only the economic issue, as well as the persecution and discrimination that followed against the Confederate population, forced them to seek better living conditions. This flight was the largest population exodus in U.S. history. [6]

They heard about Brazil and the advantages that the emperor gave to anyone who knew how to grow cotton. Before the war, the U.S. South was the world's biggest cotton exporter, exporting to the looms of England and France. The Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II, in his forties, saw the opportunity for Brazil to enter the market and encouraged the arrival of cotton planters from the southern U.S. states to Brazil. [6]

Embittered and wounded, the White American southerners had to draw a little heat from the ashes to keep warm. Many sold their properties, gathered their belongings and came to Brazil, to a land where there were no wars, no trampling and no confiscation of goods. [6]

The area of the city of Campinas was a popular destination of the Americans. Estacao ferroviaria - centro cultural de Campinas 001.jpg
The area of the city of Campinas was a popular destination of the Americans.

Emigration companies

Even before the end of the war in 1865, there was already talk of emigrating to Brazil, but very little was known about this country. After the war ended, there was such a revival of the issue that several emigration companies were formed. Representatives were sent to Brazil to check the land, climate and facilities offered by the emperor. [7]

In November 1865, the state of South Carolina formed a colonization society and sent Major Robert Meriwether and Dr. H. A. Shaw, among others, to Brazil to investigate the possibility of establishing a colony. On the way back, they published a report mentioning that two lords had already bought land and settled here. [7]

Many Southerners who accepted the Emperor's offer lost their land during the war, were unwilling to live under a conquering army, or simply did not expect an improvement in the southern economic situation. Furthermore, Brazil would not ban slavery until 1888. The Confederates were the first organized Protestant group to settle in Brazil. [7]

Americana and Santa Bárbara d'Oeste colonies

Festa Confederada in Santa Barbara d'Oeste. Festa Confederada (2).jpg
Festa Confederada in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste.

On December 27, 1865, Colonel and Senator William Hutchinson Norris of Alabama landed in the port of Rio de Janeiro. In 1866, William and his son Robert Norris climbed the Serra do Mar, stopped in São Paulo and speculated on land. They were offered land for free in what is now the neighborhood of Brás, but he did not accept it because it was marsh. They were also offered the land where São Caetano do Sul is today, and they refused for the same reason. They decided to go to Campinas, but at the time, the railroad went only 10 miles beyond São Paulo, and it was no advantage to take it, as Campinas is 45 miles from São Paulo. So the Norris bought an ox cart and headed for Campinas. They took 15 days to reach the city, and there they stayed for a while looking for land, until they cast their sights on the plain that stretched from Campinas to Vila Nova da Constituição, current Piracicaba. [8]

The Norris bought land from the Domingos da Costa Machado sesmaria and established themselves on the banks of Ribeirão Quilombo, at the time belonging to the municipality of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste and where today is the center of the city of Americana. Upon his arrival, Colonel Norris began to give practical courses in agriculture to farmers in the region, interested in cotton cultivation and new agricultural techniques. The plow he brought from the United States caused so much sensation and curiosity that, within a short time, they had a practical agricultural school, with many students who paid him for the privilege of learning and still cultivating their gardens. The Colonel wrote to his family that he had made US$5,000 for that alone. In mid-1867, the rest of his family arrived, accompanied by many relatives. [8]

Norris family house in Americana. Casa dos Norris.jpg
Norris family house in Americana.

Numerous farms were founded by North Americans who cultivated and processed cotton. They established an intense trade, notably from 1875 onwards, with the installation of the Santa Barbara Station by the Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro. Due to the constant presence of these immigrants, the village that was formed in the vicinity of the Station became known as "Vila dos Americanos", or "Vila Americana", and gave rise to the current city of Americana. [8]

The installation of the Carioba factory by the North American engineer Clement Willmot and Brazilian associates, located one mile from the train station, also dates from this period. This industry really played a very important role in the foundation and development of Americana. The education of children was one of the priorities for American families who set up schools on the properties and hired teachers from the United States. The teaching methods developed by American teachers proved to be so efficient that they were later adopted by Brazilian official education. [8]

David Bowman Riker, from Charleston, South Carolina, United States, syringeist in Santarem, Para, Brazil. Davidbowmanriker.JPG
David Bowman Riker, from Charleston, South Carolina, United States, syringeist in Santarém, Pará, Brazil.

Religious services were celebrated on the properties by pastors who moved between various properties and the various centers of American immigration. In 1895 the first Presbyterian Church was founded in the village of Estação. Due to the prohibition of burying people of other faiths in the cemeteries of cities administered by the Catholic Church, American immigrants began to bury their dead near the farmhouse. This cemetery became known as the Campo Cemetery, currently a tourist attraction in the city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste. Even today the descendants of American families are buried there. It is in this place that descendants gather periodically for religious cults and parties around the chapel founded in the 19th century. [8]

Amazonas state colony

Jason Williams Stone, an American immigrant of British descent from Dana, Massachusetts, United States, moved to Brazil before the American Civil War, and ended up becoming a tobacco and rubber farmer, soon staying very rich. Jason's plantations, which had more than five thousand hectares, were called Colonia Stone, and were located near the city of Itacoatiara, in Amazonas. Many of his descendants still have the surname "Stone". They are found mainly in the cities of Manaus and Itacoatiara, in Amazonas. [9]

Pará state colony

The city of Santarém, in the state of Pará, received a wave of refugee families from the American Civil War that took place in the South of the United States. The first to land was the Riker family. In the 1970s, David Afton Riker published a book called The Last Confederate in the Amazon, which chronicles the saga of this migration and life in the new homeland. The Confederates and their descendants became notable in the business and political life of the region. [10]

It is not known how many immigrants came to Brazil as war refugees, but unprecedented research in the records of the port of Rio de Janeiro, by Betty Antunes de Oliveira, shows that around 20,000 U.S. citizens entered Brazil between 1865 and 1885. [10]

Descendants and culture

The official flag of the Confederate States of America in 1865, the year New Texas was established in the state of Sao Paulo. Flag of the Confederate States of America (1865).svg
The official flag of the Confederate States of America in 1865, the year New Texas was established in the state of São Paulo.

The first generation of Confederates remained an island community. As is typical, in the third generation, most families had already married native Brazilians or immigrants from other origins. Confederate descendants increasingly began to speak the Portuguese language and identify themselves as Brazilians. As the region around the municipalities of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste and Americana became a hub for sugarcane production and society became more mobile, the confederates moved to larger cities in search of jobs urban areas. Currently, only a few families of descendants still live on land owned by their ancestors. The descendants of the confederates are more spread throughout Brazil. They maintain their organization's headquarters at the Campo Cemetery, in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, where there is also a chapel and a memorial.

Descendants make a connection to their history through the American Descendant Fellowship, a descendant organization dedicated to preserving immigrant culture. The descendants of the confederates also hold an annual festival in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste called "Festa Confederada", which is dedicated to funding the Campo Cemetery. During the festival, Confederate flags and uniforms are worn, while Southern American food and dances are served and performed. The descendants maintain affection for the Confederate flag, although they identify themselves as fully Brazilian. Many Confederate descendants traveled to the United States at the invitation of Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization of American descendants, to visit civil war battlefields, participate in reenactments, or visit the places where their ancestors lived. [11]

The Confederate flag in Brazil did not acquire the same political symbolism as it has in the United States. After then-Governor Jimmy Carter's visit to the region in 1972, the government of Americana even incorporated the Confederate flag into its coat of arms (although most of the Italian-descendent population removed it a few years later from the city's official symbol, as the descendants of the Confederates now comprise about a tenth of the city's population). During his visit to Brazil, Carter also visited the city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste and the grave of a great-uncle of his wife, Rosalynn Carter, at Cemitério do Campo. At the time, Carter noted that Confederate descendants sounded and looked exactly like their country's southerners. [11]

Today, the Campo Cemetery (and the chapel and memorial located within it) in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste is a memorial, as most of the region's original Confederate immigrants were buried there. As Protestants, they were prohibited by the Catholic Church from burying their dead in local cemeteries and had to establish their own cemetery. The community of descendants also contributed to the Museum of Immigration, also located in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, to present the history of U.S. immigration to Brazil. [12]

The American immigrants introduced into their new home many new foods, such as pecans, Georgia peanuts and watermelon; new tools such as the iron plow and kerosene lamps; innovations such as modern dentistry, modern agriculture, and the first blood transfusion; and the first non-Catholic churches (Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist). [13]

Immigration in numbers

Confederate immigrants Joseph Whitaker and Isabel Norris in Brazil. Joseph Withaker e Isabel Norris.jpg
Confederate immigrants Joseph Whitaker and Isabel Norris in Brazil.
The chapel of Santa Barbara d'Oeste. Capela-cemiterio-do-campo-santa-barbara-d'oeste-sp.jpg
The chapel of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste.
American immigration to Brazil by State up to January (1867) [14]
StateImmigrants
São Paulo 800
Espírito Santo 400
Rio de Janeiro 200
Paraná 200
Pará 200
Minas Gerais 100
Bahia 85
Pernambuco 85
Total2,070

The Confederate emigres were some 20,000 Southerners, from 12 southern states (i.e. Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi) who preferred the Brazilian wilderness to life under Yankee rule after the Civil War. [15]

Descendants of the immigrants

Number of American descendants by state
StateDescendants
São Paulo 100,490
Espírito Santo 50,258
Rio de Janeiro 25,220
Paraná 25,000
Pará 24,800
Minas Gerais 12,610
Bahia 10,686
Pernambuco 10,000
Total260,000
Santa Barbara d'Oeste received in the late 1860s Confederate refugees from the American Civil War (known as Confederados), who then settled in the region. SBO2 568.jpg
Santa Bárbara d'Oeste received in the late 1860s Confederate refugees from the American Civil War (known as Confederados), who then settled in the region.

Education

Graded - The American School of Sao Paulo. GradedSchool.gif
Graded – The American School of São Paulo.
Chapel International School in Sao Paulo. Chapel School.jpg
Chapel International School in São Paulo.
U.S. Education Fair in Brasilia. Feira Education USA 2018 - Brasilia (29432096307).jpg
U.S. Education Fair in Brasília.

Today, Brazil is home to many American schools. [16]

-Escola Graduada

-Chapel International School

-Pan American Christian Academy

- St. Francis College

-American School of Campinas

-American School of Rio de Janeiro

-ICS – International Christian School – Rio

-Our Lady of Mercy School

-American School of Brasília

-Brasília International School

-American School of Belo Horizonte

-Pan American School of Porto Alegre

-International School of Curitiba

-Pan American School of Bahia

-American School of Recife

-Amazon Valley Academy

-International School of Amazonas

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederados</span> Brazilian people of Confederate ancestry

Confederados is the Brazilian name for Confederate expatriates, all white Southerners, who fled the Southern United States during Reconstruction, and their Brazilian descendants. They were enticed to Brazil by offers of cheap land from Emperor Dom Pedro II, who had hoped to gain expertise in cotton farming. The regime in Brazil had a number of features that attracted the Confederados, among these political decentralization, and a relatively high commitment to free trade. The continuing legality of slavery was another factor, though few Confederados actually acquired slaves in Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Americana, São Paulo</span> Municipality in São Paulo, Southeast Brazil

Americana is a municipality (município) located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population is 237,240 in an area of 133.91 km2 (51.70 sq mi). The original settlement developed around the local railway station, founded in 1875, and the development of a cotton weaving factory in a nearby farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration to Brazil</span>

Immigration to Brazil is the movement to Brazil of foreign peoples to reside permanently. It should not be confused with the forcible bringing of people from Africa as slaves. Latin Europe accounted for four-fifths of the arrivals. This engendered a strikingly multicultural society. Yet over a few generations, Brazil absorbed these new populations in a manner that resembles the experience of the rest of the New World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodovia dos Bandeirantes</span> Highway in São Paulo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Bárbara d'Oeste</span> Place in São Paulo, Brazil

Santa Bárbara d'Oeste is a municipality in the State of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. It lies about 138 kilometres (86 mi) northwest of the State capital. It occupies an area of 272.2 square kilometres (105.1 sq mi), of which 43.1 square kilometres (16.6 sq mi) is urban. In 2020, the population was estimated at 194,390 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, making it the 43rd most populous city in São Paulo and the sixth largest in the metropolitan region of Campinas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Brazilians</span> Ethnic group

White Brazilians refers to Brazilian citizens who are considered or self-identify as "white", typically because of European or Levantine ancestry.

Amazonian Jews are the Jews of the Amazon basin, mainly descendants of Moroccan Jews who migrated to northern Brazil and Peru in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The migrants were attracted to the growing trade in the Amazon region, especially during the rubber boom, as well as to the newly established religious tolerance. They settled in localities along the Amazon River, such as Belém, Cametá, Santarém, Óbidos, Parintins, Itacoatiara and Manaus in Brazil, some venturing as far as Iquitos in Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Hutchinson Norris</span> American politician

William Hutchinson Norris was an American politician who was the founder of the city of Americana and a settlement in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste. A notable Confederate during American Civil War, Norris was a significant figure in the history of the Confederados following the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian Brazilians</span> Ethnic group

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate colonies</span> Groups of refugees established abroad from the Confederate States of America

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piracicaba River</span> River in Brazil

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tietê Bus Terminal</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">São Paulo macrometropolis</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1893 in Brazil</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration Museum (Santa Bárbara d'Oeste)</span>

The Immigration Museum is a public museum located in the city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, in the countryside of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It was founded on January 30, 1988, from the collection of the Fraternity of American Descendants, a civil society organization responsible for managing the Cemetery of the Americans. It is subordinated to the Municipal Secretariat of Culture and Tourism.

Festa dos Confederados is a festival which takes place at the end of April in Santa Barbara, d'Oeste in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The festival commemorates the history of the Confederados, who were a group of Confederate soldiers fleeing to Brazil to continue practicing slavery after the defeat of the Confederate States of America following the American Civil War, as Brazil was one of the last countries to legally bar slavery. As years have passed, there has been an increase in contention around the holiday as Americans see the symbol of the Confederate flag as a symbol of historical racism, and Brazilian Confederados see it as something that connects them to their ancestors.

References

  1. US Embassy in Brazil Archived July 13, 2020, at the Wayback Machine US Embassy in Brazil. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  2. Confederate Colonies of Brazil Archived May 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
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  4. "Visits to the U.S. by Foreign Heads of State and Government—1874–1939". 2001-2009.state.gov. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  5. "Embaixador dos Estados Unidos Todd C. Chapman chega ao Brasil". Embaixada e Consulados dos EUA no Brasil (in European Portuguese). March 29, 2020. Archived from the original on July 13, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 "This story is no longer available – Washington Times". The Washington Times . Archived from the original on November 30, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "Confederates in Brazil – Article". mason.gmu.edu. Archived from the original on July 8, 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Folha de S.Paulo – SP abriga sulista que o vento levou – 16/03/98". Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  9. "Jason W. Stone b. 19 Feb 1830 Dana, Worcester, Massachusetts d. 1913 Itacoatiara, Amazonas, Brazil: Whipple Database". Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
  10. 1 2 O último confederado na Amazônia (Book, 1983). [WorldCat.org]. January 4, 2019. OCLC   12972743. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  11. 1 2 "G1 > Edição São Paulo – NOTÍCIAS – Descendentes de confederados celebram em SP o fim da Guerra Civil dos EUA". Archived from the original on June 13, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
  12. "Secretaria Municipal de Cultura e Turismo de Santa Bárbara d'Oeste". Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
  13. Orrizio, Riccardo. Lost White Tribes: The End of Privilege and the Last Colonials in Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Brazil, Haiti, Namibia, and Guadeloupe. Simon and Schuster, 2001, pages 110–111.
  14. "Brasil: migrações internacionais e identidade". Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
  15. "Total U.S. Immigration". Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2008.
  16. "American Schools in Brazil". Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved July 25, 2008.

Further reading