Theodore Parker was one of the leading intellectuals and militant abolitionists of the antebellum era who has been largely overlooked by modern scholars. He was a leading Transcendentalist intellectual and was also one of the most militant leaders of the abolitionist movement. Despite his fervent abolitionism, his writings reveal an attitude that today we would call racist or white supremacist. Some scholars have argued that Parker's motivation for abolishing slavery was to redeem the Anglo-Saxon race from the sin of slavery. I will dispute this claim and explore Parker's true understanding of race. How he could both believe in the supremacy of the white race, and at the same time, militantly oppose African slavery. Parker was influenced by the racial "science" of his era which supported the superiority of the Caucasian race. Conversely he also believed that everyone, including African slaves, had human dignity.

Submitted by Oliveira Santos Dilzaná (dilznana@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-11-05T14:32:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO LUISA SAAD.pdf: 3162839 bytes, checksum: a968584caf2875d4160b5e1761886835 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela (anapoli@ufba.br) on 2013-11-18T18:36:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO LUISA SAAD.pdf: 3162839 bytes, checksum: a968584caf2875d4160b5e1761886835 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-11-18T18:36:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO LUISA SAAD.pdf: 3162839 bytes, checksum: a968584caf2875d4160b5e1761886835 (MD5) / Esta dissertação discute o processo histórico que culminou na proibição da maconha no Brasil em 1932. Para tanto, faz uma análise de teses médicas escritas desde o final do século XIX até as primeiras décadas do século XX. Destaca-se a atuação do médico e político Rodrigues Dória, cujos escritos serviram de base para tornar ilegal o uso da maconha que ele e outros médicos da época apontavam como um hábito trazido pelos escravos africanos, considerados raça inferior segundo ideias então em voga. No cenário político de uma Abolição e uma República recém-decretadas, se intensificou a visão de que os hábitos e práticas dos negros seriam obstáculos para concretizar os anseios por uma nação civilizada. O consumo de maconha constituía, assim, um dos empecilhos à modernização e ao progresso, uma vez que seus usuários tenderiam a adquirir comportamentos violentos, imorais ou insanos. A criminalização da maconha esteve associada à criminalização das práticas culturais de seus usuários, como foi o caso dos cultos afro-brasileiros como o candomblé. This paper discusses the historical process which culminated in the prohibition of marijuana in Brazil in 1932. Therefore, it analyzes medical theses written from the end of the nineteenth century until the first decades of the twentieth century. It highlights the role of the physician and politician Rodrigues Dória, whose writings were the basis for outlawing marijuana use. Rodrigues Dória and other doctors of that time indicated this use a habit brought by the African slaves, considered an inferior race, according to the ideias of that time. On a political scene of Abolition and Republic recently enacted, the view that the habits and practices of the black would be an obstacle to fulfill the aspirations of a civilized nation was intensified. Marijuana consumption thus constituted one of the obstacles to modernization and progress, since its users tended to get violent, immoral or insane. The criminalization of marijuana was associated with the criminalization of the cultural practices of its users, as it happened to the afro-brazilian cults, like candomblé.