Mãe Preta (black mother) statue and painting: An homage or symbol of servitude of black women?

Note from BBT

1. 2008 visit to São Paulo, black presence
2. Statues (images, effects, lack)
3. Mãe Preta
4. Racist depictions of black women

Mãe Preta, Camila Pimenta

The young black woman is sitting on the floor. She is young, tall, burly, with strong arms and big feet. She is breastfeeding a white baby while looking at a black baby lying next to her. She looks melancholy, perhaps resigned. The black child is attentive to his mother, as if waiting for his turn to drink his mother’s milk.

Mãe Preta, meaning black mother, was made two decades after the law that officially abolished slavery in Brazil. The author, Lucílio de Albuquerque from Piauí, exhibited the work for the first time at the 1912 Salon of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro. It is part of the collection of the Bahia Museum of Art.

There’s no need to go on and on about the historical facts relating to the Milk Nannies, the art speaks for itself.

Present-day Colonial Brazil.

September 28 – Day of Gratitude to the Black Mother

The expression “mãe preta”, meaning “black mother” is traditional. It comes from the period when enslaved black women breastfed the children of white women. In order to serve the white women, the mucamas, or wet nurses, had to be beautiful and clean.

Given the social importance of the “mãe preta” and the symbolic meaning of her figure, in the 1920s São Paulo black movement, led by journalist José Correia Leite, director of the O Clarin d’Alvorada, a black press newspaper, started a campaign to erect a monument in honor of women who were double mothers. “On the one hand, fulfilling the mission dictated by nature; on the other, obeying the impositions of the harsh regime of slavery,” said another activist, journalist Aristides Barbosa.

The idea of the black activists was to establish September 28 – the day of the promulgation of the Free Womb Law (1871) – to pay homage to the “black mother”. To this end, a monument to black people would also be erected, represented by the figure of the “black mother”. On the pedestal would be inscribed symbolic images of the contribution of blacks in the process of forming Brazil.

The theme, however, lost momentum with Brazil’s 1930 Revolution. It was revived during the organization of the celebrations for the IV Centenary of the founding of the City of São Paulo, in 1953. After much insistence from the commission in defense of the monument, the inauguration became part of the IV Centenary celebrations. The then mayor Jânio Quadros opened a competition to choose the designer of the model, which was won by a sculptor with the pseudonym Ibirapuera and built by Julio Guerra. The sculpture’s modern features did not please journalist José Correia Leite. He envisioned a beautiful and well-groomed “black mother”, as wet nurses used to be, and not a “deformation,” as she was projected.

The inauguration took place on January 23, 1955, at the close of the IV Centenary of the City of São Paulo. The choice of Largo do Paissandu to host the tribute to the “black mother” was due to the presence of the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos (Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men) and the fact that, since the church was built at the beginning of the 20th century, the square has been a point of reference for São Paulo’s Afro-descendant community.

The church was built free of charge by black workers at the beginning of the 20th century. It was a meeting place for blacks and slaves, who celebrated Catholic rites mixed with beliefs of Bantu origin.

They also gather there on May 13 and September 20 to celebrate their achievements

Due to São Paulo’s influence, September 28th was officially established as the Day of Gratitude to the Black Mother, through Law No. 10.346, of December 27, 1968.

Monument in São Paulo reduces black women to servitude; understand why

Viviane Morais, Terra Brasil

Are you familiar with the Mãe Preta statue in São Paulo? For you, is it a tribute or a good reason to continue discussing gender and race in Brazil?

Although it was created with the intention of paying homage to black women, it has been criticized for years for being a symbol that reinforces racist and sexist stereotypes. The monument depicts a black woman with caricatured features wearing typical slave clothing and breastfeeding a child with white features very different from her own.

It reduces these women to servitude, mere amas de leite, or mucamas, meaning wet nurses, common in old school books. It ignores the suffering behind these activities and fails to portray others that were much more important at the time.

It is also criticized for the context in which it was written during the military regime, when the issue of race was not discussed and discrimination was widespread in Brazil.

It refers to servitude at a time when black women were once again fighting for equality and resisting another regime of oppression: the dictatorship. To pay homage would be to celebrate the struggle and value of black women in the past or present. It is essential that art in public spaces promotes the valorization of all identities, breaking down and not forcing stereotypes. So, what have they told you about our history?

Source: CEDEM UNESP, Terra Brasil You Tube, Camila Pimenta IG