author
Antonio Pereira Rebouças
1798–1880
Born to a Portuguese tailor and a formerly enslaved mother, this self-taught Brazilian lawyer rose to become a leading jurist and politician in the 19th century. His life sits at the crossroads of law, citizenship, race, and the long struggle over slavery in Brazil.
1 Audiobook
Apontamentos sobre a via de communicação do rio Madeira
by Antonio Pereira Rebouças
About the author
Antônio Pereira Rebouças was born in Maragogipe, Bahia, on August 10, 1798, and died in Rio de Janeiro on June 19, 1880. He became known as a Brazilian lawyer and politician, despite coming from modest circumstances and lacking the means to pursue a formal law degree in Coimbra. Instead, he built his career through study and practice in Bahia.
Often described as an Afro-Brazilian jurist, Rebouças is remembered for his unusual rise in a slave society: he was the son of a Portuguese tailor and a freed Black mother, and he went on to earn influence in both legal and political life. He took part in the world of Brazilian public affairs during and after independence and became especially associated with civil law and debates over citizenship.
He is also known today as the father of André Rebouças, the engineer and abolitionist. Modern scholarship has returned to Antônio Pereira Rebouças as an important figure for understanding how race, freedom, and legal rights were argued in 19th-century Brazil.