Manuel Raimundo Querino (July 28, 1851 - February 14, 1923) was a prominent

Afro-Brazilian Afro-Brazilians (; ), also known as Black Brazilians (), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are mo ...

artist and intellectual. Querino's pioneering

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

works focused on the contributions of Africans to Brazilian history and culture. Assessing his contributions, the historian E. Bradford Burns says, "Querino was the first black to write Brazilian history, a task to which he brought a much-needed perspective."

Early life

Querino was born in

Santo Amaro, Bahia Santo Amaro, also known as Santo Amaro da Purificação (), is a municipality in the state of Bahia in Brazil. The population is 60,131 (2020 est.) in an area of . It is located in the metropolitan area of Salvador. Santo Amaro is located approxima ...

in 1851. In 1855, both of his parents died during the

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemic. Left an orphan at the age of four, he was sent to

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

to be raised by a guardian, Manuel Correia Garcia, a journalist and professor at the Normal School, who would later found the Instituto Histórico da Bahia in 1856. At age seventeen, Querino travelled to

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

and later

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

. There he was recruited (possibly by force) into the Brazilian army. Instead of being sent to the front, when it was discovered that he could read and write and had excellent handwriting, Querino served as a clerk at his battalion's Rio de Janeiro headquarters during the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...

. After the end of the Paraguayan War in March 1870, Querino returned to Salvador, Bahia. He dedicated himself to drawing and painting, which he studied at Salvador's Liceu de Artes e Ofícios as well as at the Academia de Belas Artes. Querino graduated in

geometric design Geometrical design (GD) is a branch of computational geometry. It deals with the construction and representation of free-form curves, surfaces, or volumes and is closely related to geometric modeling. Core problems are curve and surface modelli ...

and taught at the Liceu and at the Colégio de Órfãos de São Joaquim. He produced two textbooks on geometric design. Manuel Querino was active in politics as a labor leader, city councillor and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

, publishing articles favoring the abolition of slavery and joining the Bahian Abolition Society. He later co-founded the Partido Operário (Workers' Party) and the Liga Operária Baiana (Bahian Workers' League). Querino was a founder and charter member of the Bahian Geographical and Historical Institute (Instituto Geográfico e Histórico da Bahia) in 1894. According to Burns, his research brought some consideration of Afro-Brazilian perspectives and sources to Brazilian history. Querino completed oral history interviews to gather information from black Bahians. He also used his contacts with Salvador's white elite to advocate for practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions like

Candomblé Candomblé () is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West and Central Africa, especi ...

. Querino engaged in intellectual debates against the racist and elitist science of his time, spearheaded by pathologist Raimundo Nina Rodrigues. He was also the first scholar to publish biographies of Bahian artists - considered the Brazilian

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...

- and pioneered food studies by producing a book on Bahian cuisine that was published after his death by his son, Paulo Querino.

In popular culture

The famous Bahian writer

Jorge Amado Jorge Amado ( 10 August 1912 – 6 August 2001) was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best-known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, includi ...

drew on his story as an inspiration for creating his character Pedro Archanjo, the central figure of his 1969 novel ''Tenda dos Milagres'' ('' Tent of Miracles'').

Quotations from his works

"Bahia reaches superiority, excellence, and primacy in the culinary art of the country as the African element, with its exquisite seasoning of exotic fertilizers, altered profoundly the Portuguese delicacies, which resulted in a completely national product, tasty, pleasant to the palate yet demanding, which surpases the righteous fame of Bahian cuisine." (QUERINO, 1922, p. 23) "Brazil owns two real treasures: the fertility of its soil and the abilities of its mulattos." (Querino 1918: The black settler as a factor of Brazil's civilization)

Works

*Desenho linear das classes elementares (Linear drawing of the elementary classes), 1903 *Elementos de desenho geometrico (Elements of geometric drawing), 1911 *Artistas baianos (Bahian artists),

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, 1909 *As artes na Bahia (The arts in Bahia), Salvador, 1909 *Bailes pastoris (Pastoral dances), Salvador, 1914 *A raça africana e seus costumes na Bahia (The African race and its customs in Bahia), In: Anais do Congresso Brasileiro V of Geography, Salvador, 1916 *A Bahia de Outrora (Olden-day Bahia), Salvador 1916 *O colono preto como fator da civilização brasileira (The black settler as a factor of Brazil's civilization), 1918 *
A arte culinária na Bahia
' (''Culinary Arts in Bahia'') 1928 - highlights the African contribution to Bahian cuisine

References

External links

Manuel Raimundo Querino
{{DEFAULTSORT:Querino, Manuel Raimundo 1851 births 1923 deaths Brazilian male writers People from Santo Amaro, Bahia Portuguese-language writers
A Pioneering Afro-Brazilian Ethnologist: The Life and Work of Manuel Querino, by S. Gledhill