Sugar Culture
Objective
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
- evaluate the impact of sugarcane upon the growth and development of Brazil.
- assess the relationship between the institution of slavery and the growth of the sugar economy.
- analyze the socio-political structures that evolved out of the plantation-based economy of Northeast Brazil.
Material
Activities
- On the chalkboard, write the phrase "Cotton is king."
- Ask students to explain the meaning of this statement for American history. For what part of the country was this true? When?
- Ask students to explain the relationship between the cotton culture of the American south and the institution of slavery? Why did the south struggle against the abolition of slavery?
- Write the phrase "Sugar is king" on the chalkboard, and ask students what they think this means?
- Explain that early Brazilian history was rooted in the production of sugarcane and that the sugar culture contained certain parallels to the cotton culture of the American south.
- Distribute the student handout entitled The Story of Sugar.
- Direct students to read the sections entitled "Introduction"and "Sugarcane."
- Ask students to think about how their diet would be changed if sugar was completely removed from their lives. How significant is sugar to the taste palate?
- Ask students to imagine living in a world where sugar is a very rare commodity. How much would they be willing to pay for a pound or half pound of sugar?
- If sugar was a scarce commodity, why would it encourage people to look for places to produce sugarcane? e. Ask students to compare the amount of sugarcane it takes to plant a new field to the yield it produces. Is this cost effective? Would there be a substantial profit margin? Why or why not?
- 3. Direct students to read the section entitled "Sugar and Slavery."
- Direct students to examine the third sentence in the second paragraph. Why would the production of sugarcane require "lots of labor?"
- To reinforce this point, ask students to re-read the previous section on sugarcane production and to select examples that highlight the labor-intensive nature of sugarcane production.
- Ask students to explain why the labor-intensive nature of sugarcane production would encourage the growth of slavery. How does this compare to the growth of slavery and the cotton culture in the United States?
- Direct students to read the section entitled "The Sugar Plantation."
- Ask students to assume the role of a slave on a fazenda. Direct them to write a paragraph in the first person describing what their life would be like during harvest season.
- When students have finished their writing, ask for a few volunteers to read their first person accounts.
- Direct students to read the section entitled "The Sugar Barons."
- Ask students to explain why the sugar colonels would view everyone on the plantation as part of an "extended family." Would his views of plantation life agree with those of a slave? Why or why not?
- Ask students to explain why and how the sugar plantation enabled the colonels to play a key role in society and politics. If they were sugar barons, would they want to give up their lifestyle? Since their lifestyle was built on slavery, would they be willing to emancipate (free) their slaves? Why or why not?
- Concluding Activity Conduct a formal debate on the issue of slavery and emancipation, with one side representing the viewpoint of slaves on the sugar plantation and the other representing the viewpoint of the sugar barons.
