Most of the slaves who lived in northeastern Brazil worked on sugar plantations.
They worked between sixteen to eighteen hours a day. They had to plant, fertilize, pick, and cut sugarcane. Then they also had to work in sugar mills turning sugarcane juice into sugar. Injuries, particularly the loss of an arm, were common.
The typical life expectancy of slaves on sugar was five years. Masters believed that it was more effective to work slaves to death rather than allow them to start families and raise children.
Slaves were an expendable property. If they died or suffered an injury that prevented them from working, their masters could always import more from Africa. As a consequence, most enslaved people were African men who would never be able to have families.
Slaves who lived in cities had more freedom of movement and were more likely to live apart from their masters. Male slaves worked as craftsmen while female slaves were household servants and street vendors.
Henry Koster, Sugar Mill Brazil 1816
Social Class and Ethnic Divisions
White Brazilians made up 28 percent of the population of nineteenth-century Brazil. They dominated the planter elite, the merchant class, and the military.
Brazil also had a substantial free population. More than a quarter of Brazilian blacks and mulattos were free. They could be born free, bought their freedom, or were freed by their masters. Some were very successful business people who owned slaves and property of their own. They were also usually Brazilian-born.
Creole and African
The people with the lowest status in society were African-born Brazilians. It did not matter whether they were enslaved or free.
The Creoles also internalized anti-black racism against Africans and usually didn’t participate in slave revolts. Often, they helped suppress these revolts because they staffed the lower ranks of the army, police, and National Guard.