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Forgetting and Remembering the Atlantic Slave Trade: The Legacy of Bra...

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Chapter 5Forgetting and Remembering the Atlantic Slave Trade: The Legacy of Brazilian Slave Merchant Francisco Félix de SouzaBAna Lucia Araujorazilian slave merchant Francisco Félix de Souza (1754-1849)plied his trade between Brazil and the west African kingdom of Dahomey, now the Republic of Benin. Since the 1960s, de Souza´s biography has been the object of numerous studies.´ However, most scholars have not yet considered the visibility he acquired as a result of official projects to promote the memory of slavery in the Republic of Benin. Of greater significance than the bare facts, de Souza´s biography offers us a methodological example of how to deal with the old opposition between oral tra- dition and written sources. It questions the relationship between memory and the writing of history.

In recent years, Robin Law has questioned the key political and economic role usually assigned to de Souza in the history of Benin.2 De Souza´s image seems disproportionate to his real place in the slave trade in the Bight of Benin. Even if new evidence indi- cates that many other merchants were more prosperous, de Souza continues to occupy a central place in the memory of the slave trade, not only in Benin but in the whole South Atlantic region. What elements allowed the merchant´s memory to survive? Why and how did Francisco Félix de Souza become a symbol of the exchanges between Bahia and the Bight of Benin? How did his identity become mythologized as a founder and reference point for the Afro-Luso-Brazilian community in Benin? How can col- lective memory and family memory reconcile his dual roles as slave merchant and philanthropist? What role does Brazil have in the reconstruction of de Souza´s myth? By analyzing historical documents, interviewing members of the de Souza family, and examining the memorial of Francisco Félix de Souza at the de Souza family compound of Singbomey in the Benin coastal city of Ouidah, I attempt to answer these questions.

Trans-National Memories of SlaveryAt the beginning of the 1990s, the memorialization of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade came to constitute a transnational movement that reached beyond the Americas and Europe. In Benin, the emergence of a debate about the slave past was fol- lowed by the development of a number of official projects, carried out by the Benin government and by international agencies includ- ing UNESCO and non-governmental organizations. Even local elites, connected to some extent to the slave trade of the past, were part of this new movement. Many descendants of Brazilian and Portuguese slave merchants, along with the descendants of former slaves who returned to West Africa from Brazil, started promoting their past in the public space, contributing to the success of the memorialization phenomenon.The emergence of the memory of slavery in Benin is asso- ciated with the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus´s arrival in the Americas. At the time, it was argued that little attention was being given to the Atlantic slave trade and the contribution of Africans to the construction of the Americas. This debate gave rise to two distinct initiatives: a transnational scientific venture entitled "The Slave Route" project, and a Vodun festival entitled Ouidah 92, which focused on religion and aimed in part to increase tourism. The two projects were to some extent combined, and both received the support of UNESCO and of Benin´s new government.3 [p. 79, 80]

In 1991, after more than twenty years of Marxist-Leninist military dictatorship, democratic elections had been held and Nicéphore Soglo elected president of Benin. The new government sought not only to promote religious freedom but also to develop the national economy by attracting tourists. In this context, both the Vodun religion and the transatlantic slave trade became the focus of programs aimed at developing cultural tourism. The new projects emphasized the material and non-material heritage of the slave trade through forms of commemoration, the construction of monuments, and the creation of family museums. These projects were controversial, resulting in a widespread debate covered in the local newspapers." In Ouidah, it is possible to grasp the multiple dimensions of the memory of slavery, expressed on the one hand by the descendants of slaves, and on the other by the descendants of those who were responsible for the slave trade. The memory of slavery is inscribed in the physical and political landscape, which is divided by conflicts that are not always per- ceived by visitors and tourists. In this context, the family of the Brazilian slave merchant Francisco Félix de Souza, which still occupies an important position within Ouidah society, has been playing a crucial role in this memorialization movement.Francisco Félix de Souza´s biography sheds light on the existence of plural memories of slavery. Though they sometimes converge, these multiple memories very often present dissonant elements. In the Republic of Benin, a specific memory is visible in the discourses of the descendants of former slaves and slave traders. Because these individuals did not live the experience of their ancestors, however, studying their memories entails dealing with mediators: the witness no longer exists.As Marianne Hirsch has stated, "postmemory characterizes the experience of those who grow up dominated by narratives that preceded their birth, whose own belated stories are evacu- ated by the stories of the previous generation shaped by traumatic events that can be neither understood nor recreated." In this context of mediated memory, the notion of heritage, material or non-material, is unavoidable, because heritage is an inheritance that actively participates in the transmission of identity. For the heirs of slavery (those who claim to be, directly or indirectly, the [p. 81]

descendants of slaves), the memory is marked by rupture and gaps.Among the descendants of the perpetrators of slavery (masters,slave merchants, and other collaborators), memory is rather char-acterized by continuity. The families of the slave merchants ofAmerican or European origin who established themselves on theWest African coasts during the period of the slave trade have beenable to preserve their bonds with the cities where their ancestorssettled while also preserving ties with the other side of the AtlanticOcean. These ongoing connections and the wealth these familiesaccumulated via the transatlantic slave trade have allowed themto perpetuate their personal and family possessions: houses, fumi-ture, objects, photographs, and so forth. The stability of their eliteposition in the local society has helped them to preserve culturaland religious practices associated with their Brazilian or Portu-guese community of origin, by means of incorporating indigenouscustoms into these practices. This deep South Atlantic identity,largely based on Luso-Brazilian traditions associating paternalismand Catholicism, is solid but at the same time flexible and mixedbecause of its openness to reciprocal exchanges”The Brazilian Slave Trade and SlaveryThe Portuguese were the first European to arrive in the Gulfof Guinea. In 1721, they founded the fort São João Batista daAjuda in Ouidah. In 1727, the kingdom of Dahomey conqueredthe kingdom of Hueda, seized Ouidah, and gained direct accessto the coast. During the period of the slave trade, Ouidah became,after Luanda, the most important African slave port ´ºThe enslaved Africans sent to Brazil came from differentregions commercially controlled by the Portuguese. The majorityof them were captured in West Central Africa (mainly Angola),though some came from the Gulf of Guinea (including the Bightof Benin); by the end of the eighteenth century, they also camefrom Mozambique in East Africa.” In the South Atlantic region,especially between Angola and Brazil, slave voyages were directinstead of following the traditional triangular model.Starting at the end of the seventeenth century, the Brazilianslave system relied on the one hand on the importation of largenumbers of saves, and on the other hand on a large number of [p. 82]manumissions.” Recent estimations indicate that between 1550and 1850, Brazil imported more than 5 million enslaved Africans,the largest number in all the Americas.” In cities like Rio deJaneiro and Salvador, slaves constituted almost half of the popula-tion. They performed many different kinds of activities: they weredomestic servants, merchants, shoemakers, surgeons, barbers,carriers, artisans, artists, tailors, and so on.In 1835, Africans in Bahia numbered 21,940 out of a totalpopulation of 65,000, of whom 17,325 (26.5 percent) were slaves.and 4,615 (7.1 percent) were freed former slaves.* During thefirst three decades of the nineteenth century, most of the 7,000Africans who arrived each year in Bahia were Yoruba-speakingpeople from the regions that now form Nigeria and the Republic.of Benin. These Yoruba and, in much smaller proportion, Hausapopulations were captured during the wars between the Fulani andthe states dominated by the kingdom of Oyo.Muslims were a minority in Bahia but had religious freedomto some extent and were able to organize themselves into variousgroups. Although they belonged to many distinct ethnic groups,African Muslims were all referred to as Malês. The origin of thisterm derives from the Yoruba word imale, meaning Muslim. Thelarge Yoruba population, and the Hausa presence, played a role inthe Malês uprising of 1835 in Bahia.´* Many participants in theuprising were familiar with the Qu´ran. They carried amulets, theywere able read and write in Arabic, and many wore long whiterobes called abadas. After the rebellion´s defeat in 1835, deporta-tion to the Bight of Benin was the most common penalty imposedon free Africans alleged to have participated in the rebellion butagainst whom the Bahian government had no evidence.” Formerslaves continued this movement of retum throughout the nine-teenth century until the very beginning of the twentieth century.The Formation of anAfro-Luso-Brazilian CommunityBetween 3,000 and 8,000 former slaves retumed to the Bightof Benin. Once in West Africa, they settled in the coastal townsin what is now the Republic of Benin (Petit Popo, Grand Popo,Agoué, Ouidah, Cotonou, and Porto-Novo) as well as in the cities [p. 83]

Of what is now Nigeria (Badagry and Lagos). Here, they joinedPortuguese and Brazilian slave merchants already established inthe region, forming a community that came to be called Aguda.In Ouidah, Francisco Félix de Souza supported former slaves andhelped them to settle in several neighborhoods of Ouidah: Maro,Brazil, Quénum, Zomaí, and Boya.*In Benin, the Aguda represent 5-10 percent of the currentpopulation.” However, they are not a homogeneous commu-nity: among them are descendants of former returned slaves,descendants of Brazilian and Portuguese slave merchants, anddescendants of the slaves kept by these two groups, who werelater assimilated by them. These assimilated descendants carry thePortuguese names of their old Brazilian masters, and they shareBrazilian customs and culture. The Aguda are Catholic, butamong the former returned slaves were also Muslims and adher-ents of traditional religions such as Vodun and Orisha worship?African-bom former slaves belonged to various ethnic groups andhad several different native languages, but spoke mainly Yorubaor one of Gbe languages.Despite these distinctions, all the former slaves had a common.past marked by enslavement and their experiences in BrazilUnlike the indigenous population, they were baptized, carriedPortuguese names such as Silva, Reis, Assunção, Almeida, Santos,Cruz, Paraíso, Oliveira, and Souza, dressed in European fashion,and had so-called white manners. In the early days, the Agudaoften chose to marry within their community, in order to preserveits cohesion. These former slaves brought from Brazil a particularcuisine, including dishes such as feijoada (beans and several kindsof pork, similar to the French cassoulet), cozido (boiled meatand vegetables), and acará (deep-fried dough made with whitebeans). The Aguda community also marked its presence in thepublic space through the development of a vernacular architectureinspired by Luso-Brazilian houses. In Benin, the construction ofthese “Brazilian” houses, which typically had two storeys anda veranda, exerted an influence on the local community, whichadopted some decorative elements of this style =Once settled in the Bight of Benin, these former slavesattempted to continue following the model of the Brazilian slave [p. 84]

After the independence of Dahomey in August 1960, theAguda definitely lost their influence. With the emergence ofnational sentiment, they were perceived as having collaborated“with the French regime. When General Mathieu Kérékou becamepresident of the country in 1972 and established a Marxist-Lenin-ist dictatorship, the economic and social changes had a negativeeffect on the most prosperous Aguda families. Those who opposedthe new regime, such as Francisca Patterson (bom Medeiros),“were sent to prison,” while other businessmen, such as Urbain-Karim-Elisio da Silva, considered leaving the country”In 1990, several distinguished members of the Aguda com-munity, including Monsignor Isidore de Souza (1934-1999), arch-bishop of Cotonou, actively participated in the organization of theNational Conference of the Living Forces of the Nation, whichestablished the means for a democratic transition of power andprepared the schedule for presidential electionsº With the end ofthe dictatorship and the development of projects to promote Voduncultures and religions and to memorialize slavery, some membersof the Aguda community regained prestige and visibility on thepolitical scene. This was true of Vieyra family, whose ancestorSabino Vieyra was a former slave who had “retumed” from Riode Janeiro. Rosine Vieyra Soglo, the wife of President NicéphoreSoglo, was elected a deputy in the 1990s and participated in herhusband´s government, while during the same period her brother,Désiré Vieyra, was appointed minister of culture.The international attention Benin received over projects topromote Vodun and African cultures and to recuperate the memoryof slavery and the slave trade played a large part in creating theopportunity for some Aguda to gain back political prestige fol-lowing the National Conference. By claiming their Brazilian iden-tity, the Aguda were encouraged to talk publicly about slavery,formerly a difficult subject. However, in emphasizing the slavepast the Aguda did not insist on the elements they shared withthe descendants of slave merchants but rather on their differences.From this perspective, conceiving a common Brazilian memory issometimes a complicated task because it means erasing the plural-ity of the memories of slavery:" [p. 86]

Embracing the memorialization movement, the Aguda pro-moted their history and their heritage. American tourists andBrazilian authorities traveling to Porto-Novo and Ouidah visit themost important Aguda families. The Aguda continue to emphasizethe centrality of their connections with Brazil, but this is no longera nave enterprise. Brazil is now a new power, different from theold French colonizer. It represents not only a link with the past butalso a promise of a future, a horizon of hope.The Brazilian Slave MerchantFrancisco Félix de Souza is considered the founder of the“Aguda community in Benin. He may have been bom in 1754 inSalvador, Bahia, * but we know very little about the period priorto his settlement in Ouidah. Family tradition represents him as atypical Brazilian rich man. He is described as white, with Portu-guese ancestors on his father”´s side but native Amazonian heritagefrom his mother. Although Amazonia was almost unknown terri-tory at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of thenineteenth, the rainforest is often present in the family discourseas the symbol of an imagined Brazil, rich in natural resources.Simone de Souza, a historian who is member of Souza family,for example, describes Francisco Félix de Souza as a memberof a noble family composed mainly of military and administra-tion employees. According to her, the Brazilian merchant was aneighth generation descendant of the Portuguese officer Tomé deSouza (1503-1573 or 1579), the first governor general of Braziland the founder of Salvador” Today, this version has been slightlymodified by the family and Francisco Félix de Souza is said to bethe grandson of Tomé de Souza, even though this claim is incom-patible with the death of the governor almost two hundred yearsbefore de Souza´s birth: This revision is an attempt to fill in thelack of information about de Souza´s early life, thus contributingto the reconstruction of his memory.

De Souza chegou à costa da África Ocidental pela primeira vez em 1792. Passou três anos na região, retornou ao Brasil e depois retornou para se estabelecer permanentemente na África em 1800. Em Ouidah, ele pode ter servido como governador do forte português, um cargo deixado vago pela morte de seu irmão, Jacinto José de Souza [p. 87[p. 87]

Some years later, he left this position to become a private slavemerchant ” According to travelers who met de Souza, he was sopoor when he first arrived in Africa that he was obliged to steal thecowries given as offerings at Vodun shrines”*Once in Ouidah, de Souza clashed with Adandozan (r. 1797-1818), the king of Dahomey, probably because of a debt that Adan-dozan owed him. The tradition says that de Souza went to Abomey,the capital of Dahomey, to claim the money, but the king sent himto prison? According to tradition, to punish de Souza the jailersplunged him in a large jar of indigo. This operation was repeatedseveral times over many weeks:º In prison, de Souza is said to havemet Prince Gakpé, one of the sons of King Agonglo (r. 1789-1797),“who had been murdered in 1797. Gakpé visited de Souza in prisonand together they decided to gather their forces to fight Adandozan.To confirm their alliance, the tradition states they made a bloodpaet, a well-known practice in the old kingdom of Dahomey*De Souza escaped from prison and probably settled in LittlePopo (modem-day Anécho). From there, he supplied Prince Gakpé“with guns and goods, allowing him to prepare the coup d´étar”Adandozan was deposed in 1818, and Prince Gakpé became KingGezo (1. 1818-1850). The new king invited de Souza to settle inOuidah and take charge of the kingdom´s commercial affairs. DeSouza adopted the title “chacha,” an honorific title associatedwith the nickname he had received when he escaped from prisonwith the help of his allies.º According to tradition, the Dahomeanguards asked de Souza´s men what they were carrying out ofthe prison. They replied that it was a chacha, meaning “mat "“*However, this version of the story is unlikely, as in the Fon lan-guage spoken in the kingdom of Dahomey, the word for “mat” is<ân. ln the Fon language the word chacha (written cacá) actuallymeans “quickly done." Itis probably an adaptation ofjá já, a Por-tuguese expression meaning “quick, quick,” that de Souza used torepeat, Eventually, chacha came to be a hereditary title given to thehighest-ranking representative of the Souza family. After the deathof the first chacha, the king of Dahomey nominated his successor.The position occupied by Francisco Félix de Souza is com-monly equated with that of viceroy“º In recent years, however,local tradition, which usually designates de Souza as the chief of [p. 88]

the whites, has been questioned by Robin Law, who reminds usthat this position, also known as the yovogan, was always filled bya native. The exaggeration of de Souza´s status can be attributedin part to British travelers who described him as a rich and power-ful man. However, these same travel accounts indicate that whenEuropean visitors arrived in Ouidah, they first met the yovogan,and only after this first meeting visited the chacha. Thus, de Souzawas in fact a local chief, or caboceer.“ Even if the term viceroydoes not accurately define de Souza´s function, Alberto da Costae Silva has observed that in the context of an autocracy, “beingthe king´s commercial agent was a political function.” Thus, itis not surprising that de Souza was perceived as an actor of greatimportance in Dahomean society.The period of Gezo´s rule and de Souza´s appointment as hisagent coincided with the slow decline of the transatlantic slavetrade and a transition to the palm oil trade. Until the 1830s, deSouza was a very prosperous man who owned several slave ships.*ºHowever, in the 1840s, his activities considerably decreased,partly because of his advanced age and partly because of repres-Sive measures against the slave trade imposed by the British navy,which confiscated twenty-two of his slave ships.” At the timeof his death in 1849, de Souza had significant debts with KingGezo as well as with Brazilian and Cuban merchants. Accordingto some members of the family, when de Souza died, the king ofDahomey sent his agents to his residence to seize his possessions.The Memorial at SingbomeySingbomey, the de Souza family compound, is located in theBrazil neighborhood of Ouidah, where de Souza and some Agudafamilies settled during the first half of the nineteenth century. Atthe end of the courtyard are two large houses painted in reddish-orange inspired by the Brazilian vernacular architecture of thecighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Inside the two single-storeybuildings, formerly part of de Souza´s residence, is a memorial.Although it has existed for many years, it became accessible to thepublic only in the 1990s, when Honoré Feliciano Julião de Souzawas appointed Chacha VIII. [p. 89]

When 1 visited the memorial in the company of Christian deSouza and David de Souza” they were evidently trying to reha-bilitate the memory of their ancestor, framing him not as a slavetrader but as a great entrepreneur.* They emphasized the family´sbonds with Brazil, and justificd the merchant´s activities by insist-ing that slave trading was a legal activity at the time. Accordingto the family´s point of view, de Souza contributed to the develop-ment of Africa by introducing new goods and new crops to theTegion, including the oil palm tree.The various accounts 1 collected during my interviews indi-cate that the history of Francisco Félix de Souza´s family includesbetrayal of each other, and collaboration with the Europeans inexchange for political power. The existence of different interestgroups within the family often created serious conflicts; someepisodes involve suspicious deaths, probably the result of poi-soning. Disagreements with the royalty of Dahomey also decplymark the family´s memory. There is still a belief that marriagebetween a de Souza and a Fon from Abomey will be unsuccessfuland may have serious consequences such as illness and divorce.“One older woman in the de Souza family told me that her daugh-ter was decply depressed because of her marriage to a Fon fromAbomey.“According to the various accounts circulating, thosewho did not listen to the family wamings regretted it later, Ttseems that even if the blood pact with King Gezo was profitable,its price was very high.While visiting the memorial, one sees the intersection amongseveral memories related not only to slavery and Dahomean royaltybutalso to the exchange between Dahomey and Brazil. Christian deSouza noted that the official history stresses the opposition betweenKing Gezo “the builder” and Francisco Félix de Souza “the slavemerchant,” but Christian de Souza himself minimizes the conftictsbetween the family and the royalty of Dahomey, instead putting theaccent on the collaboration between them.According to the family, de Souza rescued Na Agontimé”* awife of King Agonglo and reputedly the mother of King Gezo,from slavery. After the murder of her husband, Na Agontimé is saidto have been sold as a slave and sent to Brazil by King Adandozan.Although there is a lack of written evidence confirming this event, [p. 90]