Searching for “a Slave Named Laudelino”

Posssibilites for Doing Historical Research Using Oral Traditions, Written Sources and Ethnography

Abstract

This article deals with the research techniques and methods utilized in a study of a rural black community called Barra II, in the municipality of Morro do Chapéu, Bahia, Brazil; specifically, the attempt to trace an enslaved person named Laudelino. Using oral history, ethnography and archival research, it was possible to reconstruct the trajectory of Laudelino and other captives who joined free black people, forming extended families in the backlands of Bahia. The process of cross-referencing historical sources, driven by memories of slavery, reveals the particularities of slavery in this region, also showing black farmers forms of sociability and territorial occupation. New approaches on slavery and post-abolition in northeastern Brazil increasingly need to dialogue with black communities self-identified as quilombos, actively listening to them and valuing memory as a privileged source for historical reconstruction.