Under the Brutal Watch: A Historical Examination of Slave Patrols in the United States and Brazil During the 18th and 19th Centuries

Though less discussed in the literature, slave patrols played a significant role in continuing and sustaining the system of slavery. While few scholars have dedicated attention to exploring the history of slave patrols in the United States (US), there remains a dearth of research analyzing the slave patrol system in Brazil, despite the existence of slavery in this area of the African Diaspora. Using a historical perspective, this article compares and examines the establishment, function, expansion of slave patrols in the US and Brazil between the 18th and 19th centuries. This article adds to the scholarly discourse and historical literature on the experiences and conditions of enslaved people in the African diaspora (i.e., US and Brazil) under the brutal watch of slave patrols. Future research and investigation is needed to gain nuanced understanding of slave patrols not only in these two specific geographical regions, but globally across the African diaspora.

[1]  Rebels and Runaways , 2020, Borderless Empire.

[2]  M. Robinson,et al.  A Critical Race Perspective of Police Shooting of Unarmed Black Males in the United States: Implications for Social Work , 2018, Urban Social Work.

[3]  M. Robinson.  Black Bodies on the Ground: Policing Disparities in the African American Community—An Analysis of Newsprint From January 1, 2015, Through December 31, 2015 , 2017 .

[4]  Gilda Graff.  The Intergenerational Trauma of Slavery and Its Aftereffects: The Question of Reparations , 2017 .

[5]  L. Barnes.  Insurrection As Righteous Rebellion in The Heroic Slave and Beyond , 2017, The Journal of African American History.

[6]  M. Robinson,et al.  Hands up—Don’t shoot: Police shooting of young Black males: Implications for social work and human services , 2016 .

[7]  Christen A. Smith.  Afro-Paradise: Blackness, Violence, and Performance in Brazil , 2016 .

[8]  Christen A. Smith.  The Canary in the Mine: Anti-Black Violence and the Paradox of Brazilian Democracy , 2016 .

[9]  Marlese Durr.  What is the Difference between Slave Patrols and Modern Day Policing? Institutional Violence in a Community of Color , 2015 .

[10]  H. Cooper.  War on Drugs Policing and Police Brutality , 2015, Substance use & misuse.

[11]  J. Kerr‐Ritchie,et al.  Slave Revolt Across Borders , 2013 .

[12]  Jean Allain.  The Legal Understanding of Slavery: From the Historical to the Contemporary , 2012 .

[13]  P. Finkelman.  Slavery in the United States , 2012 .

[14]  P. Finkelman.  Slavery in the United States: Persons or Property? , 2012 .

[15]  Renford Reese.  Canada: The Promised Land for U.S. Slaves , 2011 .

[16]  Kim D. Butler.  Slavery in the Age of Emancipation: Victims and Rebels in Brazil’s Late 19th-Century Domestic Trade , 2011 .

[17]  Dale T. Graden.  Slave resistance and the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to Brazil in 1850 , 2010 .

[18]  James L. Roark.  Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas , 2001 .

[19]  D. R. Egerton.  Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation , 1999 .

[20]  K. Crenshaw,et al.  Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement , 1996 .

[21]  Dale T. Graden,et al.  An Act “Even of Public Security”: Slave Resistance, Social Tensions, and the End of the International Slave Trade to Brazil, 1835-1856 , 1996 .

[22]  Abdias do Nascimento.  African Culture in Brazilian Art , 1978 .

[23]  Richard. Price,et al.  Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas , 1974 .

[24]  Peter L. Eisenberg,et al.  Slave Life in Rio de Janeiro, 1808-1850 , 1988 .

[25]  C. Degler.  Slavery in Brazil and the United States: An Essay in Comparative History , 1970 .

[26]  Herbert B. Alexander.  Brazilian and United States Slavery Compared , 1922, The Journal of Negro History.