Caught in the Middle: Race and Republicanism in the Writings of Apulco de Castro, Journalist and "Man of Color," 1880–83

In nineteenth-century Brazil, Afro-Brazilians of literary talent were plentiful among the best of the journalists and other literati of the cities.  However, for the most part, they sought to be identified with the “white” middle sector and the established political parties of the Monarchy.  Racial self-identification was rare; racial solidarity during the era of abolitionism was conspicuous by its absence.

This paper will explore the ways in which Apulco de Castro, editor and publisher of the newspaper O Corsário in Rio de Janeiro from 1880 to his death in 1883, articulated positions on politics and racism.  Castro was probably of mixed race, but he self-identified as “black” (negro) and more generically as a “man of color” (homem de côr).  He was also an ardent anti-monarchist and advocate of both republican government and the end of slavery.  More generally he was a vocal critic of the political and social establishment, including such “mainstream” abolitionists as Joaquim Nabuco and José do Patrocínio, those in political power at both the national level and in the administration of Brazil’s capital city, and of Emperor Pedro II himself.  Although Castro did not invoke his own racial status as a constant source of his social identity and political position, he was unusual among public figures in explicitly recognizing the relevance of race in public discourse when he considered it pertinent to the matter at hand.  His positions on racial perception and representative government thus provide a voice from a person of color who contested the status quo in both those arenas.