The black people
The day after May 13
Where did the black slaves go to after the abolition? What was the housing policy adopted so that they could live in decent houses? What was the policy adopted to engage them in the marketplace? These frequently asked questions result from the situation that most of the black population has to cope with in Brazil today.
There was a stigma among the Brazilian society, that is, even after the abolition, black people were associated to the slave work and had difficulties in entering the marketplace due to the lack of opportunities brought about their color.
"The black people competed with the Spanish and the Italians, also illiterate, to work in bakery houses or to do heavy work such as cutting wood, but they failed to get a job since employers gave preference to the Europeans, despite the abolition of slavery. They failed to get even heavier work," points out the economist and USP's professor Hélio Santos.
Yet the black women continued working as maids, receiving very slow salaries. Despite that, this allowed them to support their children and keep black families integrated, because their husbands were at the city's outskirts, Hélio Santos justifies.