In the east of Brazil, two hours away from Sao Paulo, there's a small
community that has a direct blood link with people from the southern
United States. They call themselves confederados. Families with last
names like Thomas, Strong or Williamson are living proof of the American
emigration from Brazil that started after the Civil War. They left the
devastation in the southern states to start over in Brazil, which was
still a slaveholder nation. The Americans brought with them their
expertise in farming, especially cotton, and helped start an
agricultural revolution in Brazil.
Confederado Celebration 2008
| Confederados 2009 |
| Brazil's Grey Ghosts |
| Confederados |
*****************************
I
pressed the buzzer to the gate on the crest of a steep hill and waited,
not knowing who or what to expect. I hadn’t written or called, and
didn’t really expect to find anyone home. Within seconds, though, a
dapper white-haired man with black metal-frame glasses came walking down
the yard's path in a chipper sort of way. He looked like Colonel
Sanders’s twin, but without the goatee and moustache.
After
I fumbled something in Portuguese about my being an American and that I
had come to write a story but wasn't sure that this was the right
place, the man flashed a great big smile.
“Well, yaw cum raht in,” he chirped excitedly. “I’ll git mah whife, and we’ll set us down and have us a rail nahce vis-i-ta-shun.”
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Holy crap. I never had a clue that this happened. Thank you for the awesome finds of info you post here. I'ma share this with the Mrs. so she can look into sharing this with her (private, Christian) K-12 school classes.
ReplyDeleteThis is kinda right out of 'Unearthed America', huh? :)
:) Certainly and that's great! Buy the book below. I have the original hard copy which sales for close to $100 now, but you can get it used, very good for about $13. I don't like paperbacks.
Deletehttp://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0878052593/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=used&sr=&qid=
Fascinating story. I wonder if they were ever curious enough to come to the Sates to see where their people came from.
ReplyDeleteThe SCV sponsored some to here come here for a visit yearly, but that program has closed. I desperately want to go. :)
DeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteJust, "Wow".
:)
DeleteThat's interesting, but I have trouble believing that will last.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to have a deep desire to fight "evil", partly as a way of perceiving themselves and their history as "good". They want to hate something. And we're it.
Also, the path to unifying people seems almost exclusively to unify them against something. And we're that group people unite against.
How to detract from Brazil's corruption scandals? Get those Southerners!
Many of these foreign states view themselves as "left wing", so they likely follow US Democrat news sources.
Partly why I wanted Trump to end the warring is it would make him popular in the world and thus conservative views popular. America is hated in part for our foreign policy. Whether or not the warring does some amount of good isn't the only issue. The warring does immense harm to us.
They celebrate each year on July 4th :) dressed in Confederate uniforms and hoop skirts. They seem to have a marvelous time dancing and the numbers aren't declining.
Delete