American Civil War by Brazilian Confederates (1 Viewer)

[BLReed]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/04/27/american-civil-war-commemorated-way-down-south-dixie-by-brazilian-heirs/?intcmp=latestnews

American Civil War commemorated way down south of Dixie
by Brazilian heirs of Confederates
Published April 27, 2015·Associated Press

SANTA BARBARA D'OESTE, Brazil – It had all the trappings of a down-home country fair somewhere
well below the Mason-Dixon line: Lynyrd Skynyrd medleys, mile-long lines for fried chicken, barbeque
and draft beer, and a plethora of Confederate flags emblazoning everything from belt buckles to motorcycle
vests to trucker caps.

But Sunday's party marking the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War took about
5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) south of the South, in a rural Brazilian town colonized by families
fleeing Reconstruction.

For many of the residents of Santa Barbara d'Oeste and neighboring Americana in Brazil's southeastern
Sao Paulo state, having Confederate ancestry is a point of pride that's celebrated in high style at the
annual "Festa dos Confederados," or "Confederates Party" in Portuguese.

Thousands turn out every year, including many who trace their ancestry back to the dozens of families
who, enticed by the Brazilian government's offers of land grants, settled here from 1865 to around 1875.

 

[jazzeum]

I used to live in Sao Paulo and remember reading about them when I was a kid. Brasil has many fertile areas and King Pedro wanted to grow cotton, plus slavery was legal at the time, until 1889. I recall that eventually many returned back to the US although I can't remember if the return coincided at all with the abolition of slavery in Brasil.

 

[Sentaapua]

Interesting that this small - but important - piece of history has made it to the news in the US during the 150th celebration. I was born not far (about 50 miles) from the cites of Americana and Santa Barbara d'Oeste in the State of São Paulo. The history of American immigration to the region after the Civil War is something most people born there know very well until today. The occupation of that central region of the State began in the mid 1800`s, and was predominantly by Italian immigrants. The only exception were the Americans that settled in this area beginning in 1865. William Hutchinson Norris, a former Alabama State senator and representative, was the first American to settle there and is considered the founder of both cities. The vast majority of the American immigrants went to both those cities,but some even went deep into the Amazon, to the city of Santarem. The Americans were responsable for bringing better agricultural technics, and actively helped disseminate them, and kept producing increasingly despite the end of slavery in 1888, (most Brazilian historians say that the overwhelming majority could not afford buying slaves when it was still legal) so for what I know this didn`t play a decisive roll in staying, which most did.
Brad, you`re spot-on, and I would just like to add that a recent research concluded that around 18.000 Americans immigrated to Brazil between 1865 and 1885, but the number that returned to the US is unknown, since at the time there were good records of immigrants arriving, but not of those leaving.

 

[jazzeum]

Carlos,

I thought I remembered reading once that many went to Rio Grande but, based on what I read, that doesn't seem to be the case. Is that right?

Brad

P.S. I think I mentioned to you that years ago I had been planning to get a Masters in Brasilian History. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.

 

[Sentaapua]

Brad,

I did some research this morning and there were some that indeed headed south, but those mostly stayed in Paraná. There was no mention to Rio Grande do Sul but maybe one or another got that far. The core of that migratory wave between 1865 and 1885 settled in central São Paulo, forming today's cities of Americana and Santa Barbara d'Oeste.
As for your master's, I can assure you that you that in IMHO you are already a Ph.D. in Brazilian History my dear friend!
Carlos