(Source)

At the end of the U.S. Civil War, the South was ravaged. The conflict had destroyed local communities and the economy. Faced with this scenario, many white Southerners contemplated emigrating to a new place, where they could rebuild their lives. Brazil seemed like an attractive option, offering amenable climate, arable lands, and a friendly government willing to make concessions for white immigrants. Additionally, along with Cuba and Puerto, it was one of the last stronghold of slavery in the Americas. While it is not clear the extent to which holding slaves was a factor of attraction for Southern emigrants, it certainly helped in building the image of Brazil as the place to build communities like the ones that seemed to vanish with the end of the Confederacy. Although there is no consensus, some 8,000 Americans migrated to Brazil in this period, forming homogeneous communities in places such as Santa Barbara, now the city of Americana. To this day, the city celebrates its Confederate roots in an annual party (depicted above) that has been questioned in Brazil in the face of the Charlottesville, Virginia white supramacist rallies in 2017. 

Ultimately, Confederate immigration demonstrates that Brazil and the United States were connected through the institution of slavery in more than one way—politically, but also in the imaginaries of American and Brazilian citizens.

Readings:

Cyrus B. Dawsey and James M. Dawsey, “Leaving: The Context of Southern Emmigraion to Brazil” | English 

Phil Roberts “All Americans are Hero-Worshippers: American Observations on the First U.S. Visit by a Reigning Monarch, 1876”  | English

Document:

“The Journey: The Sarah Bellona Smith Ferguson Narrative” English

Further readings: 

Celso Antonio Alcantara da Silva, “Quando Mundos Colidem: A Imigração Confederada para o Brasil (1865-1932)”, Texto Completo.