Children in Crisis: Labor, Transition, and the Reinvention of Inequality

This paper compares tutelage records and prison records from the city of Rio de Janeiro to examine the role of children of color in Brazil’s transition from slavery to free wage based labor. Tutored children of color occupied a relatively privileged position, theoretically guaranteeing them basic education and legal protections through patronage. In contrast, children of color incarcerated in the Casa de Detenção (House of Detention) represent the most disadvantaged group of urban minors. The juxtaposition of these two groups reveals significant differences in their age and racial identification. However, the occupations of these two socially distinct groups display striking similarities. I argue that the comparison of these two groups across the late nineteenth and early twentieth century demonstrates the breakdown of opportunities for upward social mobility for people of color. The patterns observed in child labor in the years leading up to emancipation foreshadow the economic stagnation endured by people of color for generations and expose elite mechanisms for the reinvention of inequality in the post-emancipation period.