Mulheres em luta: a abolição da escravidão e ações das mulheres no Ceará (1880-1884)

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the participation of elite women from Ceará, especially members of the Sociedade das Cearenses Libertadoras, in the abolitionist process between 1880 and 1884. The study seeks to understand how these women acted in the struggle for abolition, transforming spaces of sociability and charity into instruments of political action within a society marked by rigid gender norms. The investigation begins with an analysis of the historical and social context that favored the emergence of the abolitionist movement in Ceará, addressing the influence of the drought of 1877–1879 and the popular mobilization that preceded the end of slavery. In this context, the analysis draws on Theophilo (1922), whose accounts of the drought provide a fundamental basis for understanding the social and economic transformations that fueled abolitionism, as well as on Raimundo Girão (1984) and Antônio Bezerra (2001), who contextualize the abolitionist movement in Ceará. The study then examines female representation in the press, which helped construct the public image of the senhoras libertadoras and reinforced the importance of their actions in the abolitionist debate, particularly through the newspapers Libertador and O Cearense. The analysis is supported by authors such as Silva (2014), Chartier (2010), and Michelle Perrot (1998), who explore moralizing discourse, representations, and women’s presence in the public sphere. The research also engages with Joan Scott (2019) by treating gender as a category of historical analysis, and dialogues with Lilia Schwarcz (1993) and Angela Davis (1981) in articulating gender, race, and class, as well as with Angela Alonso (2014), who analyzes mobilization networks and the politics of emotions. It is concluded that elite women from Ceará played a decisive role in the abolitionist movement, resignifying traditional female practices into acts of political and symbolic protagonism.