Black Brothers and Sisters in the Lay Brotherhoods of the Rosary in Central Brazil, 1786-1863

The source of this data is three brotherhoods’ manuscripts formerly held by the Biblioteca da Fundação Educacional da Cidade de Goiás (BFEG). In the 1720s, enslaved Africans were imported into Central Brazil to mine gold in Vila Boa de Goiás, the future capital of the captaincy of Goiás. About a decade later gold was discovered to the north in Natividade, now in Tocantins state. Slaveholders put those they enslaved to mining gold. In both towns, black men and women formed Catholic lay brotherhoods (irmandades) and built churches dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary (Nossa Senhora do Rosário). Rich gold deposits enabled blacks to build a small church in Vila Boa in 1734, but they did not begin construction on the church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Natividade until 1786. Manuscripts reveal the names of officers in these three brotherhoods. Deposited here are “BBSRCB-Goias_Data,” for the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks in Goiás, 1827-1863 and “BBSRCB-Natividade_Data,” for the black Brotherhoods of the Rosary and of Saint Ephigenia in Natividade, 1786-1812.