Francisco José do Nascimento

Francisco José do Nascimento (April 15, 1839 — March 5, 1914), known as "Dragão do Mar" (Sea Dragon), was a Afro-Brazilian[1] pilot and abolitionist figure, who in 1881 led a strike in the port of Fortaleza, state of Ceará, refusing to transport enslaved black people to be sold in Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian provinces.[2]

Francisco José do Nascimento

Life

Francisco José do Nascimento was born in Canoa Quebrada. He was known as "Chico da Matilde", after his mother, Matilde da Conceição. His father died when he was eight years old. Unable to raise her child, Matilde sent Francisco to work for the Portuguese commander José Raimundo de Carvalho.[3] He learned to read and write and worked at the commander's sailboat "Tubarão" until he was 20 years old. Francisco married to Joaquina Francisca and worked at the port of Fortaleza as a pilot, driving ships to the harbor.

The state of Ceará was struck by a severe drought in 1877–78. Several landowners rushed to sell their slaves to the southern port of Rio de Janeiro. In the state, there was a strong abolitionist movement, led by white intellectuals. Francisco, a mulatto, distraught with his role in the slavery, associated with the abolitionists. On August 30, 1881, the harbor workers of Fortaleza were on strike, refusing to transport black slaves to the southern Brazil.[4] The port authority fired Francisco and other harbor workers. Nevertheless, the state of Ceará abolished slavery in 1884, four years before the rest of Brazil.[5] Francisco was celebrated and invited to visit Rio de Janeiro. There he was received as a hero by the local abolitionists; the writer Aluísio de Azevedo was the first to refer to him as "Dragão do Mar.[6]

Francisco José do Nascimento died in 1914, in Fortaleza. His grave, lost for many years, was found in July 2020 in the Cemitério de São João Batista.[1]

Honors

The Dragão do Mar Center of Art and Culture, founded in 1999 in Fortaleza, was named after him.

In 2017, Francisco's name was written into the "Book of Steel" in the Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom, in Brasília.[7]

References
  1. Clark, Alisson (1 February 2021). "Lost and found: The tomb of the Sea Dragon, Brazil's famous abolitionist". University of Florida. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  2. Beattie, Peter M. (2004). The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780842050395.
  3. Farias, Airton, de (2016-01-26). História do Ceará (in Portuguese). Armazém da cultura. ISBN 9788584920174.
  4. https://www.geledes.org.br/hoje-na-historia-1881-o-dragao-do-marq-lidera-o-movimento-de-jangadeiros-no-ceara-impedindo-o-transporte-de-escravos-nas-jangadas/
  5. https://www.geledes.org.br/hoje-na-historia-1881-o-dragao-do-marq-lidera-o-movimento-de-jangadeiros-no-ceara-impedindo-o-transporte-de-escravos-nas-jangadas/
  6. "O Dragão do Mar reapareceu | Observatório da Imprensa". Observatório da Imprensa (in Portuguese). 2014-03-18. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  7. "Lei inclui abolicionista cearense no Livro dos Heróis da Pátria". Senado Federal (in Portuguese). 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
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