This study examines an aspect of Brazilian social history during the period after Abolition: women's participation in the black press in early twentieth century São Paulo and the contradictions that it suggests. While earlier studies have claimed that women did not play a role in these publications, a detailed study of Menelik, a leading black newspaper from 1915-16, shows that women were extremely involved and that their presence has been underestimated by historians. Although few actually signed their names to articles, women participated in various important ways - contributing poetry, short stories, criticism and beauty contests - to Menelik and other black newspapers of the time. This article thus probes the absence of gender as an analytical tool in post-Abolition historiography, offering suggestions for incorporating perspectives on gender into scholarly work on the black journalism.
black women; beauty; race; black press; post-Abolition