Five rare documents describe the terrible daily life on a Brazilian slave farm at the end of the 19th century.

• 5 handwritten letters and notes from farmers during the slavery period, probably addressed to a doctor.
  
• 5 pages in total, with each document consisting of one page. Four documents have one written page, and one document has three written pages.
• In Portuguese.
• +/- 22 cm x 28.5 cm.
• The documents show some marks from insect bites and damaged edges. One of them is more fragile. Overall, the paper is delicate and requires great care when handling.
• Single set.

Excerpts transcribed in modern Portuguese

A slave has escaped and is being sought

(...) It is a matter of the fact that a slave of mine ran away on February 17th of this year. According to information, he took the campaign route, perhaps with the intention of going to the Eastern State, under someone's influence. Since he has never been in those parts, he may get lost on the way, being far from my supervision, and therefore consider himself already free.

(...) I want to use all possible means to capture him and, thinking about this, I remembered that you, due to your position and contacts, can recommend to people you trust to be alert and, if they find him, to arrest him. To whoever manages to capture him and put him in prison, I offer the sum of one hundred thousand réis. I also ask that you inform me immediately and, if you bring the slave to me, I offer two hundred thousand réis. To facilitate identification, I am enclosing some bulletins with characteristic signs that will allow you to recognize him immediately.

The owner worries about a slave injured by his whipping

(...) The day before yesterday I whipped a slave and ended up removing two of her skin, but it was very minor. This morning she complained of pain in her head and all over her body, from the waist up. I gave her some elderberry tea and gave her a mustard bath, because she said she was cold, but she didn't sweat, it just warmed her body up more, and now she says she's not cold anymore. She says she feels pain in her hip and left rib. Two days ago she cut the tip of her little finger while she was in the kitchen; after treating both wounds as if they were cuts, I burned the area with sweet almond oil. Her tongue is normal.

A slave owner pays for his slaves' shackles

Expenses incurred with the slave João da Cruz:

• Amount paid to the Prison: 40,710
• Payment to blacksmiths for putting on the shackles: 500

A slave reacted violently, using a knife, after being confronted

(...) During the journey, the Compadre went to get some cattle that were in another direction, but at that moment, the slave took the animals back and said that the Lord had ordered him to get those animals, causing a disagreement with the Compadre. The latter tried to correct the slave with a whip, but the slave reacted with a knife, which luckily did not hurt him.

(...) The Compadre went to the Lord's house, where he found the slave, who was insulting him from inside the house. On the way back, he found the slave again and tried to capture him, and to do so, he advanced with a sword. However, the slave got off his horse, but kept the animal under control, placing himself under the horse's neck. Since the Compadre was close by, he could not reach him, and the slave fled into the woods, hurling new insults.

An inventory details the prices of slaves, the youngest being 3 or 4 years old.

Inventory

• Bárbara parda, 38 years old, suffers from chronic rheumatism in her arms, which prevents her from working almost 800,000
• Joaquina parda age 20, regular sewing 1,400,000
• Manoel pardo age 16 carpentry apprentice 1,200,000
• José Mª Same age 13 years 1,000,000
• Isabel Same age 8 years 700,000

(...) There is a Creole girl named Maria do Carmo, who was donated by the deceased before the will and later registered in a deed for the value of 192 or 198 thousand réis, without depending on insertion. She is between 3 and 4 years old and, I believe, does not need to be evaluated again. Otherwise, her value would be between 300 and 350 thousand réis. The slave Bárbara was freed by a deed prior to the will, but the heirs insist that she be considered valuable.

An owner treats the death of an old slave as a bureaucratic and inhumane matter

(...) Last night an old slave of mine, named Bastião, passed away, and when I wanted to arrange his burial, the priest informed me that a death certificate would be necessary. This slave was always very sly, but at the moment I did not know that he was sick, only that he had many parasites, something that I had already treated with Parente Izidório, who should bring the cart to take him away at once. So, I ask that you please send the aforementioned certificate; if there is no exact estimate of his age, indicate something approximate.

Slavery in Brazil, which lasted almost four centuries, began in the 16th century with the exploitation of indigenous people and, later, with the arrival of around 4.8 million Africans brought by the transatlantic slave trade. Essential to the colonial economy, especially on sugar, coffee and mining plantations, the enslaved people lived in inhumane conditions, suffering violence and exhausting work. Abolished in 1888 by the Lei Áurea (Golden Law), slavery left a legacy of social and racial inequality that still deeply marks Brazilian society.

Some documents do not require long commentary, and this set is an example of this. Documents related to slavery are relatively common, especially those on manumission, but this set has a particularly striking content: the five sheets depict the dehumanization of slaves, addressing escapes, violence, physical control with shackles, commercial negotiations and the cold treatment of injuries and deaths, reflecting the brutality and indifference of the slave system. These accounts are chilling, but they represent a historical testimony of great importance. They were preserved in the same family, probably that of a doctor, since the time of the events.

A full transcript of all 5 documents is available on demand.