Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia

Johns Hopkins Studies in Atlantic History and Culture

by João José Reis

The Muslim slave uprising in Bahia in 1835, though unsuccessful in winning freedom for the rebels, had national repercussions, making it the most important urban slave rebellion in the Americas and the only one in which Islam played a major role. Joao Jose Reis draws on hundreds of police and trial records in which Africans, despite obvious intimidation, spoke out about their cultural, social, economic, religious, and domestic lives in Salvador.

Genres: History, Brazil, Islam, Nonfiction, Race, Religion, School

281 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1986

Reviews

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

João José Reis' Slave Rebellion, which treats the great Mâle slave revolt of January 1835 that occurred in Salvador da Bahia, is first and foremost a monograph, i.e. it is a work that attempts to makes the interesting dull and which is very prudent in the conclusions that it draws. It is the type of book that makes being an undergraduate in history such tremendous fun. The reader who is unfamiliar with the genre is likely to find it boring and irritating in places.
The text is never lively. Because the work is academic, the author attempts a sociological and statistical analysis of the event. Slave Rebellion contains many tables showing information on the age, country of orgin, place of residents and profession of those who were arrested for having participated in the riot.
In fact, the statistical data is all anecdotal; that is to say the statistics are not taken from a sample designed to resemble the real population of slaves. The tables includes data only on individuals that the police finally chose to lay charges against. In other words, the data reflects only the initial assumptions that the police made about who the rebels were. Moreover the author admits there was no consistency in the questions that the various police officers posed to the many suspects. Sometimes the suspected was asked for his age, ethnic group and profession. Sometimes he was not asked.
While one can quibble about the data collection, the conclusions that Reis draws all seem highly credible. The organizers and the overwhelming majority of the participants in the rebellion were were African born. They belong to the Nâgo ou Yoruba people from the area that is now shared between the modern states of Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and the Ivory Coast, They were nominally Muslims but their religious practices including many elements of the Yoruba folk religion.
The reader is tempted in places to differ with Reis' conjectures. Noting the low level of support for tthe rebellion amongs native-born slaves, Reis he argues that the rebels were overwhelmingly African-born because having had the experience of not being slaves, they felt the injustice more accutely than did the Brazilian-born slaves who would have considered slavery to simply be a fact of life that had to be accepted. This might explain why the leadership of the rebellion was African-born but cannot entirely explain why the Brazil-born participation was so low. Reis does not seem to consider that the Brazilian-born slaves would not have spoken Yoruba as well as the African born slaves; hence, they would have been less likely to become emotionally engaged in the project. This is however quibbling. Reis is certainly correct to suggest that there is a logical explanation for the lack of solidarity between the African and Brazilian-born with respect to the rebellion.
Similarly, Reis makes the statement at one point that the Mâle slave revolt of January 1835 "was a not a Jihad.. Reis seems to be trying to say that the Yoruba slaves were rebelling against their economic and social responses rather than endeavouring to create an Islamic theocracy. However in today's world we are aware that that Jihad's are declared for multiple reasons and that virtually any perceived injustice can be deemed as legitimate grounds for a jihad. Again this is quibbling over wording. Reis is unquestionably correct to say that the Male slaves were rebelling against slavery rather than attempting to install a formal Islamic caliphate.

For a reader familiar only with American slavery, Reis' book is a great delight as it offers a fascinating portrait of the institution in a different legal, cultural and economic environment.

[JEAN-PHILIPPE PEROL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma pesquisa excepcional sobre o levante dos malês, a unica revolta musulmana dos escravos do novo mundo. O minucioso trabalho historico, etnico e social descreve com minutias as origens profundas desse confronto e o temor que ele espalhou no Brasil imperial. As consequencias do fracasso do movimento - o fim do Islã baiano dos nagos e ussas -, bem como a sua permanecia em algumas tradiçoes do candomblé, teriam talvez merecidos mais desdobramentos nessa obra mestre do Joao José Reis.

[Gabriel Ribeiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este é um livro que "terminar" de ler não é uma opção. Não o li por completo pois o utilizo quase como um dicionário, lendo e relendo capítulos, caçando informações e dados que artigos me direcionam. Um dia pretendo pegá-lo para ler por completo. (2023-2024)

Mais uma bateria de leituras agora em 2025 para a construção do meu projeto de mestrado. A leitura não foi integral, mas foi intensa, e com muitos materiais de apoio, sejam livros ou artigos.

[João Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Para quem tem interesse em saber como a revolta dos Malês reconfigura o recôncavo baiano no século XIX, vai uma ótima pedida. O autor analisa desde o planejamento dos escravizados à execução, perpassando pelas irmandades leigas e pela derrota de senhores.

[Robert Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insights on the growth of rebellion as well as its repercussions. The implications of the last major rebellion in Brazil were very interesting.

[David Vanness · Rating 4 out of 5]

My copy is paperback with 281 pages 1995 edition.
I wanted to give it a 4 1/2 stars. Of course being a student & fan of history, sociology, psychology, it was a 'college' textbook for me. Reis did an in depth study from (I forgot to count how many volumes) all available records. A very objective study of Brazilian history.

[Mujahid Ibn Abdellah · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were thriving African Muslim civilizations before the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Those Muslims were also captured and bought into a life of servitude by the Europeans after living in prosperity and abundance for so long.

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book dragged. The author could have told a fascinating story, but decided to rely instead on both analyzing too many graphs of population distribution, and trying to denounce the earlier version of this book by Euclides de Cunha. Rarely told story, badly told story.

[Nicki Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read if you are studying the history of slavery in the Americas. Hands Down.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reis offers an elaborate and well researched social history of slave rebellion in Brazil. His work is incredibly in-depth, detailing every moment of the 1935 slave rebellion in Bahia. At times it can be dense with numbers, but that goes to show the amount of care and research Reis has put into his monograph. Cannot praise this monograph enough.