Manoel Joaquim Ricardo, a Hausa African, arrived in Bahia as a slave & died a wealthy freedman. His life allows us to see the limitations and possibilities for the social mobility of Africans in Brazil--both captive & free. Ricardo invested in slaves when he himself was a slave. He acquired real estate, engaged in the transatlantic and internal slave trade, and lent money at interest. These phenomena were known but rarely addressed by the historiography. In addition to wealth-related mobility, this talk will also discuss other dimensions of Ricardo’s social trajectory such as his family and religious life. Reis will propose the concept of ladinization to understand the experience of Africans in Latin America such as Manoel Joaquim Ricardo.

João José Reis is Professor of History at the Federal University of Bahia in Salvador, Brazil. Prof. Reis has been a visiting professor at the universities of Michigan, Princeton, & Harvard. Because of his rich knowledge & expertise in the content, Reis was asked to serve as Historical Advisor to the 2025 film, Malês.

This event was organized by CGIS and sponsored by KU International Affairs, Kansas African Studies Center, Impact & Belonging, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Hall Center for the Humanities, Religious Studies, Spencer Museum of Art, Spanish & Portuguese, Film & Media Studies, History, School of Business, African & African American Studies, KU Libraries, and American Studies.