Summary Of The Two Enslavement Of Rufina

The Two Enslavement of Rufina: Slavery and International Relations on the Southern Border of Nineteenth-Century Brazil by Kelia Grinberg explores the issue of kidnapping of freed Africans in Uruguay and illegal sale of slavery in Brazil. Grinberg argues that the network of kidnapping and selling of freed Africans by slave catchers existed as a response to the ban of the Atlantic slave trade in Brazil. Brazil heavily relied on slave labor, and its neighbor, Uruguay abolished slavery during their independence movement, as did various Latin American countries. Grinberg expounds on the international and border relations of the two regions in terms of the issue of slavery. As mentioned, slaves-escapes across national borders, especially in Latin
With these documents, Grinberg detailed the capture of Rufina and her eventual return to Uruguay. More interestingly, research through archived criminal cases revealed that kidnapping of freed men and women occurred frequently, and the circumstances surrounding Rufina’s case were actually unique. Grinberg affirmed that similar cases seldom received the attention of Rufina’s case and the justice system worked slowly, if at all, to have freed men return. Instead, Rufina’s case progressed urgently due to international pressure.
After the ban of the Atlantic slave trade in Brazil during the 1850s, illicit sale of African slaves continued. To respond to the demand of slaves in Brazil, slave catchers captured freed person in neighboring Uruguay. Grinberg argued the constant war in Uruguay and Brazil’s political, military, and economic superiority obscured the border between the countries, which permitted the trafficking of free people. Grinberg cited research concerning the black population and illicit slave trafficking in Brazil conducted by historians Rafael Peter de Lima, Jonatas Caratti, and Eduardo Palermo to defend her