Pardos letrados em sociedades escravistas

educação e mudança de status social (América portuguesa e Caribe espanhol, c.1750-1807)

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between literacy and the social status of free mulattos in Portuguese America and the Spanish Caribbean throughout the second half of 18^th century and the early 19^th century. As a result of the stain of slavery, the mulattos occupied a subordinate place, being affected by exclusionary laws and stigmas. This paper aims to understand the impact of literacy due to their ability to qualify the mulattos to exercise more valued social functions, such as clerk and notary occupations. In addition to the material effects, it is suggested that literacy influenced social status by endowing the mulattos with greater capacity to resist prejudices and restrictions imposed on the group and insert them in a particular way in colonial power relations.