Member-only story
History
The Confederacy Is Still Alive In Brazil
After the civil war, thousands of people fled to South America
Thousands of people fled abolitionism in the hope of continuing their horrific lifestyle of slavery in Brazil after the American Civil War.
One example is William H. Norris. He was a former Alabama state senator and loved the Confederacy dearly. But despite losing the Civil War, Norris didn’t want to give up. So, he moved to Brazil in 1865 and purchased some land that reminded him of Alabama.
What did he do next? William H. Norris tried to live as if the Confederacy never collapsed. He purchased multiple slaves, cultivated cotton, and continued an abhorrent lifestyle in Southeastern Brazil.
It’s estimated that 20,000 people fled Southern states after the Civil War. Like William H. Norris, they didn’t want to give up on their repulsive dream of the Confederacy. For them, Brazil was a great choice because slavery was still legal. “They came to continue having slaves,” said Luciana Brito, a Brazillian historian during an interview with The Washington Post. “They associated the existence of slavery in Brazil with the maintenance of a system of racial subservience.”
