The black class: black associativism, mutualism and work (Minas Gerais, 1880-1930)

Abstract

In 1894, some workers in the city of Sabará, in Minas Gerais, mostly black men and women, founded the Clube Beneficente e Recreativo Mundo Velho. Years later, in 1900, these same subjects created the União Operária Sabarense José do Patrocínio, which, similar to the first association, had its interests based on beneficence, mutual help and cultural practices aimed at the interests of its members. This research proposal seeks to understand the processes of construction of these organizational practices, as well as to investigate the internal dynamics of these spaces and, similarly, to analyze the relations between black associative spaces and other organizations of the worlds of the workers. The differences between black associativism and associations that did not govern the color and race of their associates as an important reference, I am particularly interested. Thus, it is a central problem in this thesis to recognize and investigate a possible agenda posed by workers to the patterns of the worlds of work in general, and to the movements of the Minas workers in the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first years of the republican period, in particular. To do so, this study intends to guide the investigation of a wide and varied set of sources related to the location and period in focus.