A quebra do preconceito racial na obra Úrsula da autora maranhense Maria Firmina dos Reis

Abstract

Maria Firmina dos Reis, a black woman, writer and teacher from Maranhão, left several contributions as a citizen and intellectual, her novel Úrsula of 1959, is considered a precursor of the abolitionist theme of Brazilian literature and the first to be written by a woman in Brazil. In this context, the present work has as its object of study the breaking of racial prejudice in the work Úrsula by the author from Maranhão Maria Firmina dos Reis. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyze the work Úrsula, in the approach of breaking the racial prejudice circumscribed in the characters (Túlio) young slave and, (Tancredo) wealthy and bachelor, white bourgeois, and, therefore, show according to the writer in Maranhão, in his work, the humanity and generosity of the black slave. In order to analyze, the work and its author were contextualized. Thus, to support this study, we sought material already elaborated, concepts and theorists focused on this line of research. In Úrsula, the writer intends to show a new perspective on the problem of slavery in São Luís, capital of the province of Maranhão in the second half of the 19th century