Largo do Jurumbeval, in the city of Campinas, was considered unhealthy and even dangerous place during the second half of the 19th Century, although many lower class individuals either lived or worked there. The uncontrolled conglomeration of such "undesirable" people (blacks, both free and slave, immigrants and other poor Brazilians) was seen as a threat by the authorities, and attempts were made to control these immoral and scandalous individuals by limiting their contact with each other and their access to the area. One of the solutions proposed by county officials involved the moral education of these individuals, to be provided by the police. In these attempts at moral education, however, the police played a rather ambiguous role, as they often practiced those acts which they were supposed to curtail. The present paper was designed to recuperate some of these "police teachings" and their effect on the lives of the people involved.
Moral education; Education; Urban life; Lower classes