Abstract
This article analyses how the persecution of idleness was a crucial element in Abolition’s labor control measures and investigates how that persecution was driven by racism, attributing natural idleness to black people. Generally addressed for the post-abolition period, the intention here is to show that it is an earlier process. The article also innovates by discussing how relations among legislation, labor and race, in the Abolition context, were not limited to Brazil and, in a Global Labor History perspective, reflects on the connections and comparisons with the case of the Portuguese Empire in its formulations about Africa over the same period.
Keywords:
Racism; Labor; Idleness; Global Labor History