AS VOZES DAS MÃES PRETAS NA OBRA CANTOS DO EQUADOR, DE MELLO MORAES FILHO

UMA LEITURA DOS POEMAS DE ESCRAVIDÃO

Abstract

In this article, we will conduct an analytical and attentive reading of the poems contained in poems about slavery, the third part of the book Cantos do Equador, by Mello Moraes Filho, whose themes are related to the motherhood of black women. For better understand this reading, we will first address the historical, social and political contexts, which are closely related to the theme and corroborated by an extensive theoretical framework. In order to address these contexts in a correlated manner, we will carry out the following thematic division: in primo loco, a brief history of slavery and abolitionist poetry, which emerged as one of the reactions of the movement for the end of slavery itself. This political movement involved several social segments, including intellectuals and poets, such as Castro Alves and Moraes Filho himself; then, we will look at the stereotypes of black women, how they relate to and unfold among themselves. In addition, we will address the mythical issue surrounding these and how they are seen in the social imagination; Finally, we will read poems with themes related to black mothers, whose voices were silenced by the slave-owning and oppressive society of their time. These voices found a place to speak in Moraes Filho's poetry, where they echo to present day.