This article argues that although Brazilian abolitionists turned to foreign models of abolitionism to develop their own propaganda, their choices were constrained by local political opportunities and the local Catholic tradition. Those contingences prevented any simple transposition of a foreign model of activism and led to a creative appropriation that responded to the Brazilian context and tradition. The process eventually turned into a reinvention, since arts, especially the theater, acquired the same prominence in the Brazilian abolitionist propaganda that religion had obtained in Anglo-American countries.
Abolitionist movement; Theater; Repertoire; Political tradition; Appropriation