E depois da “Lei Eusébio”? Reprodução da escravidão e seus limites em um complexo de fazendas do vale do café (Rio de Janeiro, c. 1864-1888)

ABSTRACT In this paper, we will discuss the conditions for slavery reproduction in Rio de Janeiro´s plantations after the end of the Atlantic slave trade. In order to do that, we studied the slavery demography of Commendator Joaquim Breves’ plantations, which were a symbol of slavery expansion on the coffee valley. Through one of the plantations’ registers, we analyze the demographical development in this complex of farms. We demonstrate that, after the 1860s, a broad vegetative growth in those plantations began to develop through a movement that had different meanings to slaves and their owners. Thus, we will analyze the dimensions of slavery reproduction, and its limits, in the two decades preceding the downfall of slavery in Rio de Janeiro’s coffee plantations.