The Life of African Slaves in Brazil: Violence and Resistance

During the Brazilian colonial period and even after the country’s independence, slavery was a complex and brutal element of the lives of Africans and their descendants. They were subjugated by a system of forced labor and domination through physical and psychological violence, with the intention of being exploited to generate economic profits. Slaves lived in inhumane conditions and had no legal protection whatsoever. Even in this adverse scenario, the enslaved developed multiple forms of resistance and preservation of their original cultures, which helped them leave a fundamental and enduring legacy on Brazilian identity.

Summary

• Enslaved labor was the foundation of the Brazilian economy for centuries.
• There were different categories of slave labor: field slaves, domestic slaves, slaves for hire (urban slaves), and specialized slaves.
• The enslaved lived in slave quarters with appalling hygiene and overcrowding, and had basic, low-quality food focused on maintaining their work capacity.
• Under the law, the enslaved were considered property of their masters and therefore had no civil rights.
• Physical and psychological violence against slaves was widespread and institutionalized.
• The enslaved resisted oppression through various actions, such as sabotage, slow work, preservation of culture, and escape.
• The enslaved preserved African culture and adapted it to Brazil, resulting in religious syncretism and major influences on the country’s music, dance, language, cuisine, and medicine.
• Bonds of solidarity, alternative families, and religious brotherhoods served as social support networks for the slaves.

The forced labor

The majority of slaves in colonial Brazil were connected to agricultural and extractive activities, especially on large plantations and sugar mills. Initially, Portugal promoted the enslavement of indigenous people, but later switched to African labor. The captives were the backbone of the colonial Brazilian economy and the imperial Brazilian economy during the sugar (16th–17th centuries), gold (18th century), and coffee (19th century) cycles. Broadly speaking, the forced labor of slaves of African origin can be divided into four significantly different types:

• Field slaves were those who worked in the fields and, for that reason, had the worst conditions. In a typical sugar mill, slaves started work at dawn and continued until nightfall, under the watch of overseers armed with whips. In the vast majority, Africans worked grueling hours, in an unending regime—as it was said at the time, they “worked until they dropped from exhaustion.” The slaves were responsible for planting and cutting sugarcane, carrying the heavy logs to the mill, feeding the mills and furnaces, and performing other various services. Often, they worked more than 12 hours a day, with only short breaks to eat modest meals. It was common for them to eat manioc flour, beans, and some dried fish or low-quality salted meat. On the 19th-century coffee plantations, the situation was similar or worse. Coffee was grown on steep terrain, requiring intense physical effort to weed, harvest, and carry the sacks. At that time, it was common to see slaves climbing the slopes of the São Paulo region with huge baskets of coffee on their backs, being whipped to maintain the pace.

• Domestic slaves were those who worked in the big house, serving the master’s family directly. They took care of the kitchen, cleaning, table service, laundry, raising the master’s children (wet nurses and nannies), etc. These enslaved people lived under the same roof as the master or in nearby accommodations, and had daily contact with whites—thus, they generally learned Portuguese and white habits more quickly. In general, they had better clothes and better food, as they ate leftovers from the big house’s kitchen. However, their work could be exhausting, and they were always under surveillance within the family environment. Maids and female attendants, for example, were at the mistress’s disposal almost 24 hours a day, sleeping on the floor of her room to serve her promptly. Despite this, they enjoyed greater proximity to the owners’ families and sometimes secured favors as a result.
• Slaves for hire (or urban slaves) were those who roamed the cities and provided small services on behalf of their owners. They worked, for example, as street vendors, artisans, porters, street sweepers, or employees in public or private works. In 19th-century Rio de Janeiro, for example, it was common to see female slave vendors selling sweets and fruits on street corners, or slave barbers offering to cut the hair and beards of white people. These urban slaves had a certain freedom of movement and could save part of what they earned (pecúlio) to potentially buy their freedom. However, at the end of the day, they had to hand over part of their earnings to their master—if they did not meet a minimum amount, they could be punished. Many of these enslaved people also served as messengers among different Black people in various parts of the city, spreading news (including of rebellions).
• Specialized slaves were those who performed technical and skilled roles on the properties. They were, for example, blacksmiths, carpenters, and coachmen. These individuals, because of their knowledge and skill, could enjoy more respect and benefits. For example, the sugar masters were central workers for the operation of colonial sugar mills. They supervised all stages of sugar production, a very complex job and, therefore, well paid. It was common for some sugar masters to receive better food or even symbolic payments and authority to command other slaves. Many of these specialized slaves were Africans who had already practiced a trade in Africa (such as the blacksmiths from the Guinea region), or learned a trade in the colony. In some cases, these slaves also acted as foremen or overseers of other slaves. Many slave catchers (hunters of fugitive slaves) were themselves freed former slaves or even trusted armed slaves.

The living conditions of slaves in Brazil

Slaves in Brazil lived in extremely precarious conditions. On sugar mills, they lived in slave quarters, collective lodgings near the big house. The term “senzala” comes from the Kimbundu language, spoken in Angola, and literally means “residence of servants” or “village.” The senzalas were usually long sheds, crudely built—with wattle-and-daub walls and thatched or tiled roofs—with a single door and few windows. Inside, slaves slept packed together on the floor or on mats, often chained by the feet at night to prevent escape. Overcrowding and lack of hygiene made these places breeding grounds for disease. On large estates, there were separate senzalas for men and women; on others, everyone stayed in the same barrack. Some masters allowed slave couples to have their own huts a little farther away, but this was the exception.

The food given to slaves was cheap and low quality, but sufficiently caloric to keep them working (after all, masters did not want their slaves to starve to death). Their diet was based on manioc flour and beans, supplemented by dried meat or fish in small amounts, and fruits they picked themselves. On the coffee plantations of the Paraíba Valley, a much-cited food was “ration” made of cooked black beans and flour, sometimes with pork cracklings—usually served twice a day. Slaves rarely had access to fresh meat or rice (these were almost luxuries reserved for whites). Some masters gave them a small plot of land to plant a subsistence crop. This practice, which historian Ciro Flamarion Cardoso called the “peasant breach,” allowed some slaves to maintain crops or raise chickens in their spare time. It was advantageous for slave owners because it relieved them of the responsibility of feeding their captives. However, in many places, not even this was allowed.

Broadly speaking, the enslaved possessed very few clothes or personal belongings. They received rags and used clothes from whites. Men often worked shirtless, while women wore only skirts or wrapped cloths. Many slaves went barefoot or wore wooden clogs, as well as improvised straw hats, which served to protect them from the sun. These clothing traditions were also part of the system of domination over Black people—after all, keeping them in rough clothing was a way of symbolizing their subordinate status.

The violence against slaves

Slaves were not considered subjects of the Empire, nor citizens, and therefore had no civil or political rights. They were legally classified as “things” (movable property belonging to someone), though the law considered them people for criminal purposes (they could be punished for crimes). This ambiguity—thing in one context, person in another—demonstrated the dehumanization to which they were subjected. Under the law, they could not marry, have family surnames, or own private property. They were also forbidden to testify against whites in court. In short, slaves lived on the margins of legal guarantees.

Despite having no rights, the enslaved had countless duties. To exploit their labor as much as possible and suppress their insubordination, the Brazilian slave regime was maintained by a system of institutionalized violence, both physical and psychological. Slave owners and overseers used a variety of cruel punishments, often justified by the religious and moral arguments of the time. It was preached that the slave needed “hard work as a disciplining and civilizing activity,” a cynical argument made by both clergy and laypeople.

These were some of the methods of punishment and terror applied against slaves:

• Whipping: The most common physical punishment was whipping. Slaves were tied to whipping posts or trunks and received a set number of lashes according to the alleged offense (which could be anything from underperforming, to escaping and being recaptured, or simply disobeying an order). One of the most common forms of whipping was the “quebra-negro” (breaking the Black): the practice of beating a slave in front of others to “break” him morally and teach everyone that they must submit. There were overseers specialized in inflicting suffering without killing. The lashes caused lacerations on the back and buttocks; often they left permanent scars (known as “weals”). Slaves with many whip scars were stigmatized even by their peers, as the marks indicated that they were runaways or rebels.
• Movement restrictions: Slaves considered runaways were often restrained with iron collars and other shackles, which made it difficult for them to lie down or move freely, preventing new escapes. These restraints were used during the transport of Black people to Brazil (on slave ships), in the slave quarters, and even during the workday. In some cases, wooden stocks with holes were also used to restrain slaves’ feet and hands, leaving them lying on the ground, unable to move, sometimes for several days.
• Imprisonment: The largest estates often had their own dungeons—dark cells where the enslaved could be locked up for long periods. Obviously, Black people imprisoned in these places did not have to be convicted by a court; it was enough for their owner or his representative to issue an order.
• Tinplate masks: These were iron instruments with a kind of muzzle that prevented the slave from opening their mouth fully. They were used to punish slaves who attempted suicide by eating dirt, in the hope of returning to Africa in the afterlife, or who stole food from the big house pantries. With the mask, they could ingest nothing but liquids through an opening. This torture could last for days, keeping the person in constant discomfort and humiliation.
• Sexual abuse: Many enslaved women suffered systematic sexual violence by masters, masters’ sons, or overseers who raped them. This resulted in a large number of births of mulatto children (children of white men and Black women). Although some masters recognized these children and even freed them, most of these mulatto children were born in the slave quarters and remained slaves, often with paternity unacknowledged. Sexual abuse was a cruel part of the master’s power, and enslaved women had no legal recourse, as they were seen as voiceless property.

In Brazil, collective punishments for slaves were common: an entire group of slaves could be punished because of one individual’s transgression. For example, if someone escaped and was recaptured, all the slaves from that unit could be punished to discourage further attempts. These collective punishments sowed distrust and mutual surveillance among the captives, preventing solidarity between them—a deliberate tactic by the masters to keep them under control.

In addition to physical torture, there was constant psychological violence. Slaves were frequently called racist or degrading slurs and humiliated publicly. Their original identity was denied, as they were usually renamed by the masters, adopting Christian names instead of African names.

The acts of resistance by slaves

Faced with the brutal violence they endured, slaves did not remain passive. Quite the opposite—they developed numerous ways to show dissatisfaction, from the most subtle to the most overt. In daily life, they engaged in small acts of insubordination, such as the following:

• Feigning and working slowly: Some pretended to be sick or worked more slowly or sloppily on purpose, as a form of silent sabotage, to avoid yielding the maximum profit to the master. Others even skipped steps in the harvest, broke tools, or set fire to the sugarcane or coffee fields. These actions caused significant economic losses for the masters, which is why there was a major effort to try to suppress them.
• Maintaining their own cultural practices: Although masters tried to suppress African cultural expressions, slaves found ways to practice them clandestinely. Traditional dances and music were performed in the slave quarters at night or on holy days (when it was assumed they were celebrating Catholic festivities). Capoeira, for example, emerged as a martial art disguised as dance—it allowed slaves to train fighting and self-defense under the pretext of simply performing an acrobatic dance for “entertainment.” This often took place in hidden yards in the woods, away from the eyes of the master and overseers.
• Acts of violence against the masters: There are records of slaves poisoning the food of overseers or masters, or suffocating white children in their care. These cases were rare, but they did occur, as the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis hinted at in his short story “Pai contra Mãe.” Such direct retaliation generally had terrible consequences when discovered, but show the desperation that some were driven to.
• Temporary escapes to mocambos: Sometimes, slaves would temporarily escape from the masters’ properties. They wanted to spend a few days away, clear their heads, or even visit relatives on another plantation, before spontaneously returning to captivity. These brief escapes were a form of resistance that did not necessarily represent a complete break with the masters, which even allowed for negotiating better treatment for the slaves, showing that they were not fully subdued.

Despite all the distrust and surveillance inherent to the slave system, solidarity among slaves also flourished. In the slave quarters, true alternative families were formed—the blood ties among Africans were broken by the slave trade, but new bonds of mutual care emerged. An adult recently arrived from Africa could “adopt” a young person as a symbolic child and pass on knowledge; older women took care of children while the biological parents worked in the fields; at religious brotherhood festivals, slaves from different plantations gathered together. This sociability helped them withstand violence and fostered the creation of an Afro-Brazilian culture.

The culture of Africans in Brazil

One of the notable aspects of the lives of enslaved Africans in Brazil was the preservation (and reinvention) of African cultural elements. Far from being completely “acculturated” or losing their original cultural references, many groups of slaves kept traditions alive that, over time, became part of Brazilian culture as a whole.

Upon arriving in Brazil, almost all slaves were baptized in the Catholic faith, as imposed by the Church to “save their souls.” Nevertheless, forced conversion did not mean abandonment of traditional beliefs. Africans hid their ancestral devotions beneath the mantle of Catholicism, in a process of religious syncretism. Thus arose Afro-Brazilian religions and cults that blended elements from different regions, cultures, and traditions.

The main example of this was Candomblé, which flourished especially in the Bahia region. It derives from African family- and totem-based religions, particularly those of the Yoruba or Nagô and Jeje peoples of West Africa. The term “Candomblé,” however, only became established in the early 19th century; previously, terms like “calundu” were used for slave religious sessions. In this religion, practitioners worship deities called orixás, which correspond to forces of nature and deified ancestors. To avoid detection, slaves associated each orixá with a Catholic saint—for example, Xangô was identified with Saint Jerome or Saint John, Iemanjá with Our Lady, Ogum with Saint George, and so on. In this way, they could perform their ceremonies appearing to venerate Christian saints. Candomblé ceremonies took place in isolated locations, in yards near plantations or on the urban periphery. They included songs in African languages, drumming, rhythmic dances, and possession by the orixás—all passed down orally from generation to generation.

In addition to Candomblé, other regional syncretic practices developed, such as Umbanda, Catimbó, and Toré. Umbanda emerged in the Rio de Janeiro region, intending to mix elements of Candomblé, Catholicism, and even Kardecist spiritism. Catimbó and Toré, in turn, became more popular in the Northeast, as a fusion of African, Catholic, and Indigenous elements. It is worth noting that this religious syncretism was not unique to Brazil, being observed also in Cuba and Haiti, for example, through Santería and Voodoo.

African musicality also took deep root in Brazilian culture. Slaves brought drums (atabaques), marimbas, rhythms, and songs that influenced everything from popular festivities to the development of samba, centuries later. In the slave quarters and quilombos, music was a source of strength and unity. Dances like lundu and jongo have African origins and were practiced in quilombos and slave communities. Jongo, in particular, spread through coffee plantations in the southeast—also called “caxambu,” it was a circle dance to the sound of drums and call-and-response singing, considered the grandmother of samba. The very word “samba” comes from an African term—probably Bantu, meaning “collective dance.” On Bahia plantations, slaves held “samba de roda” parties during their leisure, with singing and clapping.

Africans also preserved elements of their native languages, though Portuguese became the dominant language in Brazil, largely due to reforms implemented by the Marquis of Pombal. Many words from African languages were incorporated into Brazilian Portuguese, such as “senzala,” “samba,” “quilombo,” “cafuné,” “dendê,” “munguzá,” “quitanda,” “moleque,” “fubá,” “oxalá,” “bagunça,” and “gingar,” among many others. Moreover, the intonation of Brazilian Portuguese was influenced by African languages, resulting in a way of speaking different from European Portuguese.

Slaves tried to form families when possible. The law prohibited marriage between enslaved people, but they often celebrated informal unions. These irregular marriages were sometimes encouraged, sometimes broken up by the masters—either because they thought slaves with families would be less likely to escape, or because it was convenient to sell a slave couple separately. Family ties also arose between slaves and freed people.

In slave communities, bonds of kinship by consideration, such as calling a respected elder “uncle” or “daddy,” created an internal social structure. There were informal leaders, like experienced “old Black men” who guided the younger ones, and “aunt” midwives who assisted with births. In the urban slave quarters of Rio de Janeiro, there were even brotherhoods where slaves and freed people organized together, such as the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary, composed mostly of enslaved Black people. These Afro-Catholic religious brotherhoods played a crucial role: besides promoting the faith, their members helped the needy, bought freedom, and held dignified parties and funerals for slaves—in other words, they were spaces of Black solidarity under Church permission.

Finally, it is important to consider the African influence on Brazilian cuisine and popular medicine. They popularized palm oil, okra, yam, and feijoada—according to legend, it was created by slaves mixing leftover meats from the masters with beans. They also brought knowledge of herbs and healing practices to Brazil, such as benedictions and garrafadas (herbal infusions in bottles to enhance their medicinal effects).

Conclusion

The trajectory of enslaved Africans in Brazil was marked by inhumane exploitation through forced labor in various economic sectors, degrading living conditions, and a systemic violence intended to subjugate and control them. However, even in the face of such oppression and denial of their humanity under the law, the enslaved showed remarkable resilience, developing resistance strategies that ranged from everyday sabotage and cultural preservation to struggle and community building. They preserved and recreated their rich cultural heritage, whose legacy is fundamental to current Brazilian identity. Thus, despite the brutality of the slave system, African presence and culture persisted and profoundly shaped the country.