An American Brazilian ( pt, italic=yes, américo-brasileiro, norte-americano-brasileiro, estadunidense-brasileiro) is a
Brazilian person who is fully, partially or predominantly of European-American descent or a U.S.-born immigrant in Brazil.
The
Confederados
''Os Confederados'' () is the Brazilian name for Confederate expatriates who fled the Southern United States during Reconstruction and their Brazilian descendants. They were enticed to Brazil by offers of cheap land from Emperor Dom Pedro II, ...
is a cultural sub-group in the nation of Brazil. They are the descendants of people who fled from the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
to Brazil with their families after the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
At the end of the American Civil War in the 1860s, a migration of
Confederates to Brazil began, with the total number of immigrants estimated in the thousands. They settled primarily in
Southern
Southern may refer to:
Businesses
* China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China
* Southern Airways, defunct US airline
* Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US
* Southern Airways Express, M ...
and
Southeastern Brazil
The Southeast Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Sudeste do Brasil; ) is composed of the states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo State, São Paulo. It is the richest region of the country, responsi ...
: in
Americana
Americana may refer to:
*Americana (music), a genre or style of American music
*Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States
Film, radio and television
* ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...
,
Campinas
Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...
,
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
,
Santa Bárbara d'Oeste
Santa Bárbara d'Oeste is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the São Paulo (state), State of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. It lies about northwest of the State capital. It occupies an area of , ...
,
Juquiá
Juquiá is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 18,718 (2020 est.) in an area of 813 km². The elevation is 17 m.
The municipality contains part of the Serra do Mar Environmental Protection Area
The Serra do Ma ...
,
New Texas
New Texas was a colony established in São Paulo state, Brazil by remnants of the Confederacy after their surrender in the American Civil War. The New Texas colony's leader was Frank McMullen.
Background
Following the end of the American Civi ...
, former Xiririca now
Eldorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
, Rio de Janeiro and
Rio Doce
The Doce River (literally the "sweet river"; pt, Rio Doce ) is a river in southeast Brazil with a length of .
The river basin is economically important. In 2015 the collapse of a dam released highly contaminated water from mining into the river ...
. A few other places also received immigrants: one colony settled in
Santarém, Pará – in the north on the
Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile.
The headwaters of t ...
– and the states of
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
and
Pernambuco
Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...
also received a significant number of
American immigrants.
That was one of the main reasons why emperor
Dom Dom or DOM may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Dom (given name), including fictional characters
* Dom (surname)
* Dom La Nena (born 1989), stage name of Brazilian-born cellist, singer and songwriter Dominique Pinto
* Dom people, an et ...
Pedro II was the first foreign Chief of State and Head of Government to visit U.S. capital in 1876 and also attended the Centennial Exposition in the largest city in Pennsylvania.
More recently, other waves of American nationals became residents in the country.
History
Background and beginning
After the end of the American Civil War, the
Confederates found themselves in a very difficult economic situation, having their states completely devastated by the war. Not only the economic issue, as well as the persecution and discrimination that followed against the Confederate population, forced them to seek better living conditions. This flight was the largest population exodus in
U.S. history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...
.
They heard about
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and the advantages that the emperor gave to anyone who knew how to grow cotton. Before the war, the
U.S. South
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
was the world's biggest
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
exporter, exporting to the looms of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The Brazilian
Emperor Dom Pedro II, in his forties, saw the opportunity for Brazil to enter the market and encouraged the arrival of cotton planters from the southern U.S. states to Brazil.
[
Embittered and wounded, the ]White American
White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...
southerners had to draw a little heat from the ashes to keep warm. Many sold their properties, gathered their belongings and came to Brazil, to a land where there were no wars, no trampling and no confiscation of goods.[
]
Emigration companies
Even before the end of the war in 1865, there was already talk of emigrating to Brazil, but very little was known about this country. After the war ended, there was such a revival of the issue that several emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
companies
A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...
were formed. Representatives were sent to Brazil to check the land, climate and facilities offered by the emperor.
In November 1865, the state of South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
formed a colonization society and sent Major Robert Meriwether and Dr. H. A. Shaw, among others, to Brazil to investigate the possibility of establishing a colony. On the way back, they published a report mentioning that two lords had already bought land and settled here.
Many Southerners who accepted the Emperor's offer lost their land during the war, were unwilling to live under a conquering army, or simply did not expect an improvement in the southern economic situation. Furthermore, Brazil would not ban slavery until 1888. The Confederates were the first organized Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
group to settle in Brazil.
Americana and Santa Bárbara d'Oeste colonies
On December 27, 1865, Colonel and Senator William Hutchinson Norris of Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
landed in the port of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
. In 1866, William and his son Robert Norris climbed the Serra do Mar
The Serra do Mar (, Portuguese for ''Sea's Ridge'' or ''Sea Ridge'') is a 1,500 km long system of mountain ranges and escarpments in Southeastern Brazil.
Geography
The Serra do Mar runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast from the state ...
, stopped in São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
and speculated on land. They were offered land for free in what is now the neighborhood of Brás, but he did not accept it because it was marsh. They were also offered the land where São Caetano do Sul
São Caetano do Sul (or São Caetano) ('' Saint Cajetan of the South''. ) is a city in São Paulo state in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 161,957 (2020 est.) in an area of 15.33 km2. It is the ci ...
is today, and they refused for the same reason. They decided to go to Campinas
Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...
, but at the time, the railroad went only 10 miles beyond São Paulo, and it was no advantage to take it, as Campinas is 45 miles from São Paulo. So the Norris bought an ox cart and headed for Campinas. They took 15 days to reach the city, and there they stayed for a while looking for land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
, until they cast their sights on the plain that stretched from Campinas to Vila Nova da Constituição, current Piracicaba
Piracicaba ( or ) is a city located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population is 407,252 (2020) in an area of 1378.07 km². It is at an elevation of 547 m above sea level.
Name
The place name comes from a word in the Tupi langua ...
.
The Norris bought land from the Domingos da Costa Machado sesmaria and established themselves on the banks of Ribeirão Quilombo, at the time belonging to the municipality of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste
Santa Bárbara d'Oeste is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the São Paulo (state), State of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. It lies about northwest of the State capital. It occupies an area of , ...
and where today is the center of the city of Americana
Americana may refer to:
*Americana (music), a genre or style of American music
*Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States
Film, radio and television
* ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...
. Upon his arrival, Colonel Norris began to give practical courses in agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
to farmers in the region, interested in cotton cultivation and new agricultural techniques. The plow he brought from the United States caused so much sensation and curiosity that, within a short time, they had a practical agricultural school, with many students who paid him for the privilege of learning and still cultivating their garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...
s. The Colonel wrote to his family that he had made US$5,000 for that alone. In mid-1867, the rest of his family arrived, accompanied by many relatives.
Numerous farm
A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
s were founded by North Americans who cultivated and processed cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
. They established an intense trade, notably from 1875 onwards, with the installation of the Santa Barbara Station by the Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro. Due to the constant presence of these immigrant
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
s, the village that was formed in the vicinity of the Station became known as "Vila dos Americanos", or "Vila Americana", and gave rise to the current city of Americana.
The installation of the Carioba factory by the North American engineer Clement Willmot and Brazilian associates, located one mile from the train station
A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...
, also dates from this period. This industry
Industry may refer to:
Economics
* Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity
* Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery
* The wider industrial sector ...
really played a very important role in the foundation and development of Americana
Americana may refer to:
*Americana (music), a genre or style of American music
*Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States
Film, radio and television
* ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...
. The education of children was one of the priorities for American families who set up school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...
s on the properties and hired teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
s from the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The teaching methods developed by American teachers proved to be so efficient that they were later adopted by Brazilian official education.
Religious services were celebrated on the properties by pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
s who moved between various properties and the various centers of American immigration
Immigration has been a major source of population growth and Culture of the United States, cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than a ...
. In 1895 the first Presbyterian Church
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
was founded in the village of Estação. Due to the prohibition of burying people of other faiths in the cemeteries of cities administered by the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, American immigrants began to bury their dead near the farmhouse. This cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
became known as the Campo Cemetery, currently a tourist attraction in the city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste
Santa Bárbara d'Oeste is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the São Paulo (state), State of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. It lies about northwest of the State capital. It occupies an area of , ...
. Even today the descendants of American families are buried there. It is in this place that descendants gather periodically for religious cults and parties around the chapel founded in the 19th century.
Amazonas state colony
Jason Williams Stone, an American immigrant of British descent
British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mo ...
from Dana, Massachusetts
Dana was a town located in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Dana was lost as a result of the formation of the Quabbin Reservoir.
History
Formed from parts of Petersham, Greenwich, and Hardwick, it was incorporated in 1801. The town was named for ...
, United States, moved to Brazil before the American Civil War, and ended up becoming a tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
and rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
farmer, soon staying very rich. Jason's plantations, which had more than five thousand hectares, were called Colonia Stone, and were located near the city of Itacoatiara, in Amazonas. Many of his descendants still have the surname "Stone". They are found mainly in the cities of Manaus
Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...
and Itacoatiara
Itacoatiara is one of the 48 official neighborhoods into which the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is divided.
Beach
Itacoatiara beach is located about 30 minutes east of downtown Niterói by car, or one hour by bus.
Itacoatiar ...
, in Amazonas.
Pará state colony
The city of Santarém, in the state of Pará
Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...
, received a wave of refugee families from the American Civil War that took place in the South of the United States. The first to land was the Riker family. In the 1970s, David Afton Riker published a book called The Last Confederate in the Amazon, which chronicles the saga of this migration and life in the new homeland. The Confederates and their descendants became notable in the business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
and political life of the region.
It is not known how many immigrants came to Brazil as war refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. , but unprecedented research in the records of the port of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, by Betty Antunes de Oliveira, shows that around 20,000 U.S. citizens
Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constitut ...
entered Brazil between 1865 and 1885.
Recent immigration
To increase profits, some farmers change what they grow. But some farmers in the American Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
are changing where they grow. The Midwest is the traditional center of American agriculture. In Brazil, undeveloped land can cost two hundred forty dollars a hectare, or less. That is a little more than one-tenth the cost of land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
in the Midwest. Some of the farmers see low-cost land in Brazil as a way to expand their operations. And it may serve other purposes. It may help keep farming in the family, by letting other family members have their own farm. Crops like soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...
s and cotton grow well in Brazil's climate. The South American country has grown into a major agricultural exporter. It is the largest exporter of soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...
s in the world. In the last five years, millions of hectares have been newly planted in Brazil. Growth has been especially high in Central States with grassland known as "cerrado
The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...
". It usually gets rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
in summer and is dry in winter.
Descendants and culture
The first generation of Confederates remained an island community. As is typical, in the third generation, most families had already married native Brazilians or immigrants from other origins. Confederate descendants increasingly began to speak the Portuguese language
Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and ...
and identify themselves as Brazilians. As the region around the municipalities of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste and Americana became a hub for sugarcane production and society became more mobile, the confederates moved to larger cities in search of job
Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...
s urban area
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
s. Currently, only a few families of descendants still live on land owned by their ancestors. The descendants of the confederates are more spread throughout Brazil. They maintain their organization's headquarters at the Campo Cemetery, in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, where there is also a chapel and a memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
.
Descendants make a connection to their history through the American Descendant Fellowship, a descendant organization dedicated to preserving immigrant culture. The descendants of the confederates also hold an annual festival in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste called "Festa Confederada", which is dedicated to funding the Campo Cemetery. During the festival, Confederate flags and uniform
A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...
s are worn, while Southern American food
American cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes prepared in the United States. It has been significantly influenced by Europeans, indigenous Native Americans, Africans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and many other cultures an ...
and dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
s are served and performed. The descendants maintain affection for the Confederate flag, although they identify themselves as fully Brazilian. Many Confederate descendants traveled to the United States at the invitation of Sons of Confederate Veterans
The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the militar ...
, an organization of American descendants, to visit civil war battlefield
A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...
s, participate in reenactments, or visit the places where their ancestors lived.
The Confederate flag
The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...
in Brazil did not acquire the same political symbolism as it has in the United States. After then-Governor Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
's visit to the region in 1972, the government of Americana
Americana may refer to:
*Americana (music), a genre or style of American music
*Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States
Film, radio and television
* ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...
even incorporated the Confederate flag into its coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
(although most of the Italian-descendent population removed it a few years later from the city's official symbol, as the descendants of the Confederates now comprise about a tenth of the city's population). During his visit to Brazil, Carter also visited the city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste
Santa Bárbara d'Oeste is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the São Paulo (state), State of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. It lies about northwest of the State capital. It occupies an area of , ...
and the grave of a great-uncle of his wife, Rosalynn Carter, at Cemitério do Campo. At the time, Carter noted that Confederate descendants sounded and looked exactly like their country's southerners.
Today, the Campo Cemetery (and the chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
and memorial located within it) in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste is a memorial, as most of the region's original Confederate immigrants were buried there. As Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
, they were prohibited by the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
from burying their dead in local cemeteries and had to establish their own cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
. The community of descendants also contributed to the Museum of Immigration, also located in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, to present the history of U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
immigration to Brazil
Immigration to Brazil is the movement to Brazil of foreign peoples to reside permanently. It should not be confused with the colonization of the country by the Portuguese, or with the forcible bringing of people from Africa as slaves. Latin ...
.
The American immigrants introduced into their new home many new foods, such as pecans, Georgia peanuts and watermelon; new tools such as the iron plow and kerosene lamps; innovations such as modern dentistry, modern agriculture, and the first blood transfusion; and the first non-Catholic churches (Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist). Some foods of the American South also crossed over and became part of general Brazilian culture such as chess pie
Chess pie, also known as Jefferson Davis pie is a dessert with a filling composed mainly of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and sometimes milk, characteristic of Southern United States cuisine. It is similar to pecan pie without any nuts.
History
...
, vinegar pie, and southern fried chicken
Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or c ...
. The immigrants also established public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
s and provided education to their female children, which was unusual in Brazil at the time.
Immigration in numbers
;American immigration to Brazil by State up to January (1867)
The Confederate emigres were some 20,000 Southerners, from 12 southern states (i.e. Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi) who preferred the Brazilian wilderness to life under Yankee
The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...
rule after the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
Descendants of the immigrants
;Number of American descendants by state
Confederado phrases in Brazil
"...My father took part in the 1st Battalion that left Gonzalez. He was hurt in a battle in Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and sent back home, but he soon afterwards recovered and went back to the war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
. He was confined to prison and released. He returned home and once again returned to the battle field. "...In those days of shocking terror, both rebuilding and staying there turned impossible. Daily crimes surrounded us and there was nothing we could do..."[Confederado phrases in Brazil](_blank)
/ref>
"Our farm was beautiful, had several acres
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ya ...
, good houses, horses and cattle. We had a corn mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...
, cotton-benefiting machineries (...) The Brazilian government
The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative or ...
received us very well, hosted us on the Immigrant Hotel, thus giving us shelter and food. It was my duty to explain that we were not immigrants. We were refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. . War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. ."
"I have sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
, cotton, pumpkins, squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
, five kinds of sweet potatoes
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
, Irish potatoes, cornfield peas, snap beans, butter bean
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...
s, ochre, tomatoes and fine chance at tobacco. I have a great variety of fruits on my place. I have made enough to live well on and am better pleased than other."
"I remember when I was 4 years old, I was lost in a textile factory and I couldn't tell the people anything because I only spoke English", recalled an engineer and third-generation descendant. "I didn't learn Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
until I started school."[Confederates histories in Brazil](_blank)
/ref>
"They came here because they felt that their 'country' had been invaded and their land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
confiscated," said great-granddaughter of the original McKnight family that moved to Brazil from Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, in the Southern United States. "To them, there was nothing left there. So, they came here to try to re-create what they had before the war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
." "I grew up listening to the stories. They were angry and bitter. When they talked about it, moving here, the war, leaving their homes, it was always a very sore subject for them."
Culture
The center of Confederado culture is the Campo Cemetery in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, where most of the original Confederados from the region were buried. Because of their Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
religion, they established their own cemetery. The Confederado community has also established a Museum of Immigration at Santa Bárbara d'Oeste to present the history of Brazilian immigration and highlight its benefits to the nation.
The descendants still foster a connection with their history through the ''Fraternity of American Descendants'', a descendant organization dedicated to preserving the unique mixed culture. The Confederados also have an annual festival, called the ''Festa Confederada'' which is dedicated to fund the Campo Cemetery. The festival is marked by Confederate flags, traditional dress of Confederate uniforms and hoop skirt
A hoop skirt or hoopskirt is a women's undergarment worn in various periods to hold the skirt extended into a fashionable shape.
It originated as a modest-sized mechanism for holding long skirts away from one's legs, to stay cooler in hot climat ...
s, food of the American south with a Brazilian flair, and dances and music popular in the American south
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
during the antebellum period.
Education
Today, Brazil is home to many American schools.American Schools in Brazil
/ref>
* São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
:
-Escola Graduada
Associação Escola Graduada de São Paulo, most commonly referred to as Graded School or Graded, is an American school in São Paulo, Brazil. The school opened on October 17, 1920, in a small schoolhouse on Avenida São João, and in 1961 the c ...
-Chapel International School
-Pan American Christian Academy
The Pan American Christian Academy, or PACA, is a Protestant American school in São Paulo, Brazil.
Since 1960, the school provides an American-style of education that is based on a Christian foundation. PACA has served the local and internatio ...
- St. Francis College
-American School of Campinas
* Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
:
-American School of Rio de Janeiro
Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro (EARJ, the American School of Rio de Janeiro) is a non-profit twin-campus international school located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The school was founded in 1937 as a private, independent, coeducational, non-deno ...
-ICS – International Christian School – Rio
-Our Lady of Mercy School
* Federal District
A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...
:
-American School of Brasília
Escola Americana de Brasília (American School of Brasília or EAB) provides a US and Brazilian accredited pre-K through twelfth grade curriculum. EAB is an English-language school operated using American-style teaching. The school is open to stud ...
-Brasília International School
* Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
:
-American School of Belo Horizonte
* Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...
:
-Pan American School of Porto Alegre
Pan American School of Porto Alegre is an American international school in Petrópolis, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America ...
* Paraná:
-International School of Curitiba
The International School of Curitiba (ISC), founded in 1959, is located in Curitiba, Paraná (state), Paraná, Brazil.
Diplomas
American
ISC has been accredited since 1984 by AdvancED, the leading American Certification Authority for excellent ...
* Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
:
-Pan American School of Bahia
The Pan American School of Bahia (PASB), is an American international school in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil for students from pre-kindergarten through high school. The school was founded in 1960, on a small campus in Campo Grande, and in 1974 the cur ...
* Pernambuco
Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...
:
- American School of Recife
* Pará
Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...
:
- Amazon Valley Academy
* Amazonas:
- International School of Amazonas
Notable people
* Luís Inácio Adams
Luís Inácio Lucena Adams (born 2 March 1965) is a Brazilian lawyer who was appointed to be Brazil's Attorney General on 23 October 2009.
Adams earned his LL.B from the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto ...
* Zuzu Angel
SNI document on Stuart, 1971
Zuleika Angel Jones (June 5, 1921 – April 14, 1976), better known as Zuzu Angel, was a Brazilian-American fashion designer, who became famous for opposing the Brazilian military dictatorship after the forced d ...
* Orville Adalbert Derby
Orville Adalbert Derby (; July 23, 1851 – November 27, 1915) was an American geologist who worked in Brazil.
Education
Derby studied geology at the Cornell University, obtaining his degree in 1873. While a student, he was invited in 1870 by h ...
, geologist
* Eduardo Dougherty Fr. Edward ("Eduardo") John Dougherty, SJ is an American-Brazilian Jesuit priest, educator, communicator and religious leader of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement in Brazil.
Father Dougherty was born on January 29, 1941, in New Orleans, Lou ...
* Bob Falkenburg
Robert Falkenburg (January 29, 1926 – January 6, 2022) was an American amateur tennis player and entrepreneur. He is best known for winning the Men's Singles at the 1948 Wimbledon Championships and for introducing soft ice cream and American f ...
* Charles Frederick Hartt
* David Neeleman
David G. Neeleman (born October 16, 1959) is a Brazilian-American businessman and entrepreneur. He has founded five commercial airlines: Morris Air, WestJet, JetBlue Airways, Azul Brazilian Airlines, and Breeze Airways. Along with Humberto Pedro ...
* Llewellyn Ivor Price
Llewellyn Ivor Price (October 9, 1905 – June 9, 1980) was one of the first Brazilian paleontologists. His work contributed not only to the development of Brazilian but also to global paleontology. He collected '' Staurikosaurus'', the first ...
* Júlio Ribeiro
Júlio César Ribeiro Vaughan (April 16, 1845 – November 1, 1890) was a Brazilian Naturalist novelist, philologist, journalist and grammarian. He is famous for his controversial romance '' A Carne'' and for designing the flag of the State of ...
* Fabiana Semprebom
Fabiana Semprebom (born May 26, 1984) is a Brazilian model.
Biography
Fabiana Semprebom was born in Londrina, Paraná. She is the daughter of a Brazilian father and an Italian-American mother.
Career
She is represented by Louisa Models, S ...
, model
*Tim Soares
Timothy Luiz Soares (born February 4, 1997) is an American-Brazilian basketball player for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for The Master's Mustangs before playing professionally in Turkey a ...
(born 1997), basketball player for Ironi Ness Ziona of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...
* Dorothy Stang
Dorothy Mae Stang (June 7, 1931 – February 12, 2005) was an American-born Brazilian member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was murdered in Anapu, a city in the state of Pará, in the Amazon Basin of Brazil. Stang h ...
* Larry Taylor
Samuel Lawrence Taylor (June 26, 1942 – August 19, 2019) was an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Le ...
, basketball player
* Dionne Warwick
Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...
* Ellen Gracie Northfleet, judge
* Elsie Lessa
* Ivan Lessa
* José Lewgoy
José Lewgoy (16 November 1920 – 10 February 2003) was a Brazilian actor. He is recognizable to many art-house cinema fans for his role as Don Aquilino in Werner Herzog's 1982 film ''Fitzcarraldo''.
Biography
He was born in Veranópolis, R ...
, actor
* Rita Lee
Rita Lee Jones (; born 31 December 1947) is a Brazilian rock singer, composer and writer. She is a former member of the Brazilian band Os Mutantes and is a popular figure in Brazilian entertainment, where she is also known for being an animal ...
* Warwick Kerr
* Kátia Lund
Kátia Lund (born March 13, 1966) is a Brazilian film director and screenwriter. Her most notable work was as co-director of the film '' City of God''.
Early life
Lund was born in São Paulo, to American parents who emigrated to Brazil before sh ...
* Lewis Joel Greene
Lewis Joel Greene (born August 10, 1934) is an American Brazilian biochemist, scientist, university professor and editor of the '' Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research''.
Greene received a BA in liberal arts from Amherst Col ...
* William Hutchinson Norris
William Hutchinson Norris (September 25, 1800 – July 13, 1893) was an American politician who was the founder of the city of Americana and a settlement in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste. A notable Confederate during American Civil War, Norris was a ...
* Guy Ecker
Guy Frederick Ecker (born February 9, 1959) is an American actor.
Ecker became a household name in Latin America for his portrayal of Sebastián Vallejo in the Colombian telenovela '' Café, con aroma de mujer''. A second Colombian production, ' ...
, actor
* Arminio Fraga Neto
See also
* Patriot Front
Patriot Front is an American white nationalist and neo-fascist hate group. Part of the broader alt-right movement, the group split off from the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in 2017. Patri ...
* American private militia
* Second American Civil War
The "Second American Civil War" is an umbrella term used by academics in order to reclassify historical eras of significant political violence in the history of the United States as a "civil war" or, more commonly, to discuss the potential outbre ...
* Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
* Angolans in Brazil
* White Brazilians
White Brazilians ( pt, brasileiros brancos ) refers to Brazilians, Brazilian citizens who are considered or self-identify as "white", typically because of Ethnic groups in Europe, European or Levant, Levantine descent.
The main ancestry of curre ...
References
Further reading
*
{{Brazil topics
American diaspora in South America
Ethnic groups in Brazil
American expatriates in Brazil
American emigration