As condições de saúde e doenças das pessoas escravizadas em Teresina entre os anos de 1850-1888

Abstract

This study analyzes medical practices and healing strategies in nineteenth-century Piauí, with emphasis on the relationships between slavery, health, and disease during the formation of Teresina and the functioning of charitable institutions, particularly the Santa Casa de Misericórdia of the capital, between 1850 and 1888. Sanitary assistance prioritized the control of urban epidemics and the preservation of social order, often neglecting the enslaved population, whose health was viewed solely through the lens of economic utility. In Piauí, the Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Oeiras and, later, that of Teresina became the main spaces for assisting the poor and the sick, although they faced severe structural and financial limitations. Official documents and newspaper reports reveal the precarious conditions of these establishments, which survived thanks to charity and provincial subsidies. Healthcare for enslaved people and the destitute was limited and, in most cases, motivated by concerns of public order rather than humanitarian interest. Parallel to official medicine, popular healing practices flourished, sustained mainly by African and Indigenous knowledge, transmitted orally and based on the use of herbs and religious rituals. These practices, repressed by the State and labeled as charlatanism, constituted forms of cultural resistance and accessible care for marginalized groups. The study shows that, in the absence of systematic and inclusive health policies, healers, such as folk healers, blessing practitioners, and prayer healers, played an essential role in the survival and cultural identity of the enslaved population. The methodology employed is based on qualitative and historical analysis, using provincial reports, newspapers, municipal codes, and hospital documents from 1850 to 1888. The theoretical framework includes the works of Sidney Chalhoub (1996), Gilberto Hochman (1998), Tania Salgado Pimenta (2003), Teresinha Queiroz (1995), Roberto Machado (1978), and Joseanne Marinho (2018). The study concludes that health conditions in the capital, Teresina, in the second half of the nineteenth century were marked by contradictions between the discourse of charity and the practice of exclusion, in which institutional medicine and popular knowledge coexisted in tension, revealing the limits of medical assistance and the central role of traditional practices in the care of enslaved populations.