Isabel Orleans-Braganca: The Brazilian Princess Who Freed the Slaves

by James McMurtry Longo

Overview

This is a biography of Isabel Orleans-Braganca, daughter of the last emperor of Brazil. At a time when the voices of women went mostly unheard, Orleans-Braganca was a skilled and vocal politician. She was also a determined abolitionist, committed to peacefully ending slavery in the country that first introduced slavery to America.

Thrust into the political spotlight after the death of her two brothers and illness of her father, Orleans-Braganca became acting head of state just as revolution was sweeping the country. She soon found herself in a race to save the constitutional government and free the nation's slaves before a coup d'etat ended her time in power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786432011
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	12/12/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James McMurtry Longo is a professor of education and chair of the Education Department at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, and author of six other books.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     
Preface: Introduction to a Princess    

1. Exiles Under the Southern Cross     
2. “Swords from the Hands of a Woman”     
3. “It Is Impossible to Rule Innocently”     
4. “Schemes and Plans”     
5. “Restless Intrigues”     
6. “We Unfortunate Princesses”     
7. “My Soul Has Never Been Enslaved”     
8. “Fire from Two Sides”     
9. “The Apple Is Ripe”     
10. “Cancer”     
11. “First Empress of the New World”     
12. “My Beloved Son and Emperor”     
13. “Orphans of the State”     
14. “Fairy Princess”     
15. “A Brazilian with All My Heart”     
16. “Heir to the Throne of Brazil”     
17. “To Direct the Constitutional Government of an Empire”     
18. “A Living Symbol”     
19. “On the Surface of a Volcano”     
20. “No Place for Women”     
21. “Side by Side”     
22. “God and Our Hearts”     
23. “A Winter Is Before Us”     
24. “A Wife Should Not Wish to Act Independently”     
25. “The Far Reaches of Barbarism”     
26. “A Blind Alley with No Way Out”     
27. “Isabel’s Lament”     
28. “The Never Ending War”     
29. “Flowers, Not Blood”     
30. “The Loss of All Our Hopes”     
31. “Just a Dream”     
32. “Great and Good Friend”     
33. “The Best Virtues of Having Power”     
34. “The Politics of Horror”     
35. “A Cordial Democracy”     
36. “The Place Which Is Rightfully Hers”     
37. “Walking Toward an Abyss”     
38. “The Unfathomable Designs of Providence”     
39. “The Hour of Reason”     
40. “Turning Point”     
41. “Fight for the Princess”    
42. “Conspiracy”     
43. Exiles Under the Southern Cross     

Appendix A: Monarchs of Portugal, 1321–1853     
Appendix B: The Monarchy in Brazil, 1808–1889     
Chapter Notes     
Bibliography     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

a lively and interesting account...solid...recommended”—Choice; “valuable”—Multicultural Review; “history comes alive in this account of the life and deeds of Isabel Orleans-Bragança--The Brazilian Princess who freed the Slaves in Brazil. The product of over a decade of research on three continents, this book marks an historical milestone in the inclusion of women in Brazilian history.”—Dr. Astrid Nilsson Sgarbieri, Professor of Discourse Analyses, PUC–Campinas.

From the Publisher

"history comes alive in this account of the life and deeds of Isabel Orleans-Braganca—The Brazilian Princess who freed the Slaves in Brazil. The product of over a decade of research on three continents, this book marks an historical milestone in the inclusion of women in Brazilian history."

Professor of Discourse Analyses, PUC-Campinas - Dr. Astrid Nilsson Sgarbieri

valuable

Multicultural Review

a lively and interesting account...solid...recommended

Choice

★ 03/01/2016
This is an excellent history of Brazil in general and Rio in particular, covering the latter's role as the early national capital of both the empire and the subsequent republic. In 1807, the Portuguese royal family fled Lisbon ahead of Napoleon's invading army for exile in the large (but largely uninhabited) colony of Brazil. In 1826 [see websites], Brazil declared its independence from Portugal, establishing the Empire of Brazil. In 1888, and more important, under the reign of this princess, emancipation of slaves was proclaimed via the Golden Law (a Lei Áurea).

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