João da Cruz e Sousa (24 November 1861 – 19 March 1898), also referred to simply as Cruz e Sousa, was a Brazilian poet and journalist, famous for being one of the first Brazilian Symbolist poets. A descendant of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n slaves, he has received the epithets of "Black

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

" and "Black Swan". He is the patron of the 15th chair of the Academia Catarinense de Letras.

Biography

Cruz e Sousa was born João da Cruz on 24 November 1861, in the city of Florianópolis (at the time called ''Nossa Senhora do Desterro''), in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Santa Catarina. His father was Guilherme da Cruz, a bricklayer, and his mother was Carolina Eva da Conceição – with both of them being freed

Afro-Brazilian Afro-Brazilians ( pt, afro-brasileiros; ) are Brazilians who have predominantly African ancestry (see " preto"). Most members of another group of people, multiracial Brazilians or ''pardos'', may also have a range of degree of African ancestry. ...

slaves. Sousa's former owner, the Marshal Guilherme Xavier de Sousa, treated him like a close relative, teaching him how to read, write and speak

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, French and

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. He also gave João da Cruz his surname Sousa. Cruz e Sousa also studied Mathematics and

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

under the guidance of famous

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biologist

Fritz Müller Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller (31 March 1822 – 21 May 1897), better known as Fritz Müller, and also as Müller-Desterro, was a German biologist who emigrated to southern Brazil, where he lived in and near the German community of Blumenau, ...

. In 1881, Cruz e Sousa served as director of the newspaper ''Tribuna Popular'', where he wrote

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

articles. In 1883, Sousa tried to become an attorney for the city of Laguna, but was not accepted for being black. In 1885 he published his first poetry book, ''Tropos e Fantasias'', in partnership with Virgílio Várzea. In 1890 he moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, where he worked as an

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at the

Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil The Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil was one of the principal railways of Brazil, uniting the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Origins On 9 February 1855, The imperial government of Brazil signed a contract with Edwar ...

. In 1893 he published his two famous books ''Missal'' and ''Broquéis'', that introduced the Symbolist movement in Brazil. In November of the same year, he married Gavita Gonçalves, an educated black girl who worked as a seamstress, and had with her four children; however, all four would die prematurely due to

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

, what made Gavita have a mental breakdown and go insane ever since. Cruz e Sousa died in what is today the city of Antônio Carlos, in the Brazilian state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, on March 19, 1898, due to tuberculosis.

Works

* ''Tropos e Fantasias'' (1885 — in partnership with Virgílio Várzea) * ''Broquéis'' (1893) * ''Missal'' (1893) * ''Evocações'' (1898) * ''Faróis'' (1900 — posthumous) * ''Últimos Sonetos'' (1905 — posthumous) * ''O Livro Derradeiro'' (1945, expanded 1961 — posthumous) * ''Dispersos'' (1961 — posthumous)

External links

Cruz e Sousa - Master of the Symbolism
Biography of Cruz e Sousa written by professor Evaldo Pauli.
Encyclopædia Britannica
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz E Sousa, Joao Da 1861 births 1898 deaths Brazilian male poets Brazilian journalists Brazilian abolitionists 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Minas Gerais People from Florianópolis Symbolist poets Sonneteers 19th-century journalists Male journalists 19th-century Brazilian poets 19th-century Brazilian male writers Afro-Brazilian people

Biography

Works

Further reading

External links