A Journey in Brazil: Henry Washington Hilliard and the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society

A Journey in Brazil: Henry Washington Hilliard and the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society is an investigative account of the vital career of Henry Washington Hilliard, who had a long and complicated relationship with slavery. A native Southerner, he was a former slave owner and Confederate soldier, but as a member of Congress Hilliard strongly opposed secession. Hilliard supported the constitutional legality of slavery; however, as a moderate he acknowledged the status quo and warned of the dangers of radical positions concerning the issue. Throughout a diverse career that spanned six decades, Hilliard’s personal challenges, moderated by his faith in Divine Providence, eventually allowed him to return to his ideological roots and find a sense of redemption late in life by becoming an unlikely spokesman for the Brazilian emancipation movement through his association with Joaquim Nabuco. In A Journey in Brazil, authors David I. Durham and Paul M. Pruitt Jr. establish context for Hilliard’s beliefs, document his journey in Brazil, and offer a variety of primary documents-selections from newspapers, transcripts of letters, translations of speeches, and other documents that have never before been published.