ABSTRACT
In two episodes of near complete loss of slaveholder authority, external events weakened masters’ capacity to use targeted violence and liberties to divide and control enslaved workers. Resistance evolved as early successes showed greatly reduced risks of flight or rebellion and helped overcome divisions. During the Farroupilha War (1835–1845) in the ranching province of Rio Grande do Sul, enslaved cowboys fled to Uruguay or to the Republican army, which promised freedom. During the final years of slavery in the 1880s, the coffee growing regions of São Paulo saw many local rebellions and thousands of enslaved Black people simply abandoned the plantations.
