Slave Rebellion in Brazil

On the night of January 24, 1835, hundreds of African Muslim slaves poured into the streets of Salvador, capital of the Brazilian province of Bahia, to confront soldiers and armed civilians. Nearly 70 slaves were killed. More than 500 were sentenced to death, prison, whipping or deportation. Although the rebel slaves failed to win their freedom, the repercussions of their actions were felt throughout the nation, making this the most important urban slave rebellion in the Americas, and the only one in which Islam played a major role. In this history of the 1835 uprising, Joao Jose Reis draws on hundreds of police and trial records in which Africans, despite obvious intimidation, spoke out about their cultural, social, economic, religious and domestic lives in Salvador. Now available in this revised and expanded English edition, "Slave Rebellion in Brazil" is a portrait of the conditions of urban slabery and an absorbing account of conspiracy, uprising and punishment.