{"id":2007,"date":"2011-10-10T08:30:27","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T11:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=2007"},"modified":"2017-03-28T07:37:26","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T10:37:26","slug":"rios-port-slavery-and-a-couples-determination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=2007","title":{"rendered":"Rio’s Port, Slavery, and a Couple Determined Not to Forget"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1996, Merced Guimar\u00e3es and her husband Petrucio were renovating their home on Rua Pedro Ernesto in Gamboa<\/a>, Rio\u2019s Port district<\/a>. Soon after work began on what was to be a considerable repair project, workers digging in the earth underneath the house started to uncover numerous human bones. At first, Merced was frightened, and understandably so. \u201cOur first thought was that there had been some major crime here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But what Merced and Petrucio had unknowingly discovered was actually the Cemit\u00e9rio dos Pretos Novos (Cemetery of the New Blacks), a relic of the port district\u2019s days as a hub of slave trading, a burial ground whose location had long been forgotten, lost somewhere in a mountain of centuries-old documents.<\/p>\n

Recovering from their initial shock, the couple got in touch with the government and more information about the cemetery slowly came to light. Those interred beneath the Guimar\u00e3es\u2019 home had been called the \u201cNew Blacks\u201d because they had just arrived from Africa when they died, before being sold in the slave market at nearby Valongo. The Cais do Valongo slave wharf alone received between 500,000<\/a> and two million<\/a> African slaves, which is more than the estimated total number of Africans brought to the United States over the entire course of the US slave trade (450,000<\/a>). Along with the bones were found various other artifacts, jewelry and ceramic pieces of African origin, and deeper down, objects of both Portuguese and indigenous handiwork.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After removing the new finds for further scientific examination (by law, the Brazilian government possesses the right to the subsoil and thus owns any such archaeological discovery), the city failed to follow up with any sort of support for the couple, leaving the open excavation sites in the home. The Guimar\u00e3es eventually moved away from Rua Pedro Ernesto between 1998 and 2001 while the rehab project they had initially planned was finally completed (without authorization from city authorities). Upon their return to Gamboa, they discovered that their home had become, for many, a point of significant interest.\u00a0\u201cOur house was always full of people,\u201d says Merced. \u201cLots of people came here to learn (about the discovery).\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the visitors were sometimes a headache, the couple felt a certain responsibility to preserve the history of the cemetery. In 2005, they bought the two adjoining buildings and in 2006, ten years after the initial discovery, opened the Instituto dos Pretos Novos<\/a> (IPN – New Blacks Institute).<\/p>\n

In 2009, the IPN was finally recognized by the Ministry of Culture as a \u201cPoint of Culture,\u201d and under this program the Institute is receiving three years of government financial support for renovations, workshops, lectures, and research.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Although government money has paid for some renovations and new equipment for the Institute, the Guimar\u00e3es and a corps of dedicated volunteers remain responsible for its daily operation. And smaller costs that come from maintaining the facilities for visitors or school field trips can become a burden.\u00a0\u201cWe avoid turning on the lights,\u201d says Merced. \u201cWhen we want to call someone on a cell phone, we don\u2019t have a way. We have to call collect.\u201d<\/p>\n

In truth, on my first visit to the IPN early on a Friday afternoon, I walked directly past the building without the slightest notion that I had passed it. There are no signs marking the buildings that house the IPN, and street signs are also scarce in the area. When, with the help of Merced\u2019s daughter, I made my way to the correct address, the Institute appeared closed, dark, with the doors locked.<\/p>\n

As it is, most of the Institute\u2019s visitors come as part of school field trips or tour groups. Academics give lectures about the cemetery itself and on other topics like the history of samba and the history of African slavery in Brazil. But the Institute receives little foot traffic and its existence is not widely known to neighborhood residents.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometimes neighborhood kids will gather in the window to watch an archaeologist at work on an excavation. And sometimes they\u2019ll be invited in for a short informal lesson about the dig.\u00a0\u201cThe kids think it\u2019s really cool,\u201d says Merced, noting that the romantic, Indiana Jones conception of archaeology is largely foreign to these kids.\u00a0\u201cI believe these things stimulate the kids in their studies,\u201d she says. \u201cMaybe we have some future archaeologists on our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, the archaeologist most often present in the Institute\u2019s front window is Reinaldo Tavares, who is also a Professor of History with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. As part of his master\u2019s degree research, he is currently attempting to map the dimensions of the slave cemetery. Having performed various excavations within the two building that house the IPN, he now plans to begin a new dig to determine whether the cemetery extends underneath Rua Pedro Ernesto.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As construction continues in an effort to revitalize Rio\u2019s port district, Tavares is optimistic about the fate of the IPN and the surrounding region. \u201cThis is an area of great archaeological importance,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is political will for this preservation.\u201d\u00a0Tavares, whose work is partially supported by the National Museum, remains confident that, with support coming from universities and from the strong black culture movement in the area, the region\u2019s historical importance will be respected. \u201cIt is a happy moment,\u201d he says. \u201cWe hope that (this preservation) happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The real outcome of the port district\u2019s revitalization remains to be seen, but regardless, the IPN stands to lose its status as a Point of Culture after next year. Without this key source of income, finances would again be tight at the Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream is that this grows,\u201d says Merced, \u201cbut if we don\u2019t receive some sort of incentive, I don\u2019t know if I will be able to stay with it…Its not just a matter of bringing people here to see (the cemetery)…You have to have researchers, studies, these types of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Tavares sees it, the Institute is slowly gaining experience, learning how to survive and improve. Through cultural education and with help from its highly qualified corps of volunteers, Tavares sees the IPN being in a better place two years from now.\u00a0\u201cWe want to change the mentality of society to value this preservation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The IPN is undeniably playing an important role in preserving the memory of a time that many Brazilians, perhaps, would like to forget.\u00a0\u201cThis is not the tourism of the Marvelous City (as Rio is known),\u201d Tavares says. But the Institute, acting to preserve the memory of Brazil\u2019s afro-descendant population and its history of resistance, \u201cdeserves all respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Merced, the Institute exists to preserve a memory, the idea that those who suffered have not been forgotten. But more importantly, it exists to spread a simple yet powerful message about humanity and the way we ought to treat the least among us.\u00a0\u201cWe have to be more human,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are, even today, only a little bit human.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1996, Merced Guimar\u00e3es and her husband Petrucio were renovating their home on Rua Pedro Ernesto in Gamboa, Rio\u2019s Port district. Soon after work began on what was to be a considerable repair project, workers […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[329,1329],"tags":[258,738,188,25,1292,148,146,1347,124,279],"writer":[278],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-solutions","8":"category-by-international-observers","9":"tag-community-solution","10":"tag-gamboa","11":"tag-history","12":"tag-human-rights","13":"tag-organizing","14":"tag-port-region","15":"tag-porto-maravilha","16":"tag-pretos-novos","17":"tag-race","18":"tag-slavery","19":"writer-mark-waterman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=2007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}