INTERCONTINENTAL ECHOES: JAPAN'S EQUALITY BID, BRAZIL'S IDENTITY, AND THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE
Keywords:
Racial Equality, Paris Peace Conference, Brazil, Japan, Racial DemocracyAbstract
This comprehensive article delves into the complex interplay between Japan's racial equality proposal at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and its multifaceted reception and impact in Brazil. While numerous scholarly works have illuminated the diplomatic intricacies and the responses of Western powers, this study particularly emphasizes the often-overlooked "Pacific Route" – the transatlantic and trans-Pacific intellectual and political currents that shaped the understanding and contestation of racial equality in a globalized context. We explore Japan's strategic motivations for advocating racial non-discrimination, linking them to its aspirations for global power status and its challenge to prevailing Eurocentric racial hierarchies. Concurrently, the article rigorously analyzes Brazil's unique position as a nation actively constructing a narrative of "racial democracy" in the post-slavery era, alongside its significant role as a destination for Japanese immigrants. Drawing upon extensive archival material, diplomatic records, and a wide array of contemporary Brazilian newspaper accounts (including mainstream and Afro-Brazilian press), this research elucidates how the debate around Japan's proposal became entangled with Brazil's contentious 1919 presidential election and its deeply ingrained national identity discussions. The analysis reveals how Brazil's eventual abstention on the proposal was a nuanced decision, influenced by both pragmatic concerns over immigration control and the ideological need to uphold its nascent multiracial self-image. Crucially, the article highlights how Afro-Brazilian intellectuals, even amidst these national political machinations, adeptly seized upon the international discourse of racial equality to publicly critique the limitations and hypocrisies of Brazil's proclaimed racial harmony, demonstrating a nascent form of Black internationalism. Ultimately, this study posits that the "Pacific Route" offers profound insights into the contested meanings of racial equality, revealing Japan as an unexpected catalyst for profound shifts in Brazilian political and racial discourse, and illustrating the enduring fluidity and adaptability of racial categories in response to both global pressures and domestic aspirations.
References
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20. Shimazu, 28.
21. Ibid., 30. Also see Miller, David Hunter. The Drafting of the Covenant. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928, 1, 463–64.
22. Horne, Facing, loc. 390 of 6059.
23. Lesser, Jeffrey. Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil. Durham: Duke University Press, 1999, 149–50.
24. Shimazu, Japan, 39–42.
25. Ibid., 22; and see 21, 46, 86.
26. Ibid., 24.
27. Shimazu, “The Japanese Attempt,” 98.
28. Guoqi, Asia, 197.
29. Miller, The Drafting, 1, 125.
30. Quote from Shimazu, Japan, 196.
31. Sodré, Nelson Werneck. História da imprensa no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1966, 329.
32. Skidmore, Thomas E. Black into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought, 2d ed. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993; Stepan, Nancy Leys. “The Hour of Eugenics”: Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996.
33. de Lacerda, Jean Baptiste. “The Metis, or Half-Breeds, of Brazil.” In Spiller, G., ed., Papers on Inter-Racial Problems Communicated to the First Universal Races Congress Held at the University of London, July 26–29, 1911. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969, 382. Also see Skidmore, Black into White, 65–67.
34. Lesser, Jeffrey. Immigration, Ethnicity, and National Identity in Brazil, 1808 to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, 2.
35. São Paulo’s state government, rather than the federal government, negotiated with Japan to bring immigrant laborers to Brazil. On Chinese labor experiments in Brazil, see Lee, Ana Paulina. Mandarin Brazil: Race, Representation, and Memory. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018; Lesser, Negotiating National Identity, 13–39.
36. Lesser, Negotiating National Identity, 11.
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38. Lesser, Negotiating, 7.
39. Ibid., 9.
40. Lesser, Immigration, 95–96.
41. Lesser, Negotiating, 92.
42. Lesser, ibid., 93, 113.
43. Skidmore, Black into White, 134.
44. Streeter, Epitácio Pessoa, 78–79.
45. I found coverage of the proposal in more than twenty-five newspapers across Brazil, about two-thirds of which I cite here. Those papers that I did not cite ran coverage that either reproduced points made elsewhere or was tangential. Additional archival work may yield further insights, but it is clear that while politicians debated the Japanese proposal in public, they paid little attention to it on the floor of the Câmara dos Deputados (Chamber of Deputies), an indication that they viewed it as fodder for attacking opponents but had less interest in engaging it as a serious matter of policy. When the deputies discussed the Peace Conference, they addressed other issues discussed in Paris, such as the Monroe Doctrine and workers’ rights. For example, see Annaes da Camara dos Deputados, Sessões de 28 de abril a 4 de junho de 1919. Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional, 1920, 283–84, 363–79.
46. “A Conferencia de Paris.” Correio da Manhã (Rio de Janeiro), 15 Feb. 1919: 1. Also see, for example, “O Japão…,” A Rua (Rio de Janeiro), 5 Mar. 1919: 2. Most of the newspaper articles consulted here were accessed using the Biblioteca Nacional’s Hemeroteca Digital (https://memoria.bn.gov.br/hdb/periodico.aspx), which I browsed by date and searched using keywords.
47. “A Emenda…,” O Paiz (Rio de Janeiro), 25 Mar. 1919: 1.
48. “Conferencia da Paz.” A Republica (Curitiba), 21 Mar. 1919: 2; “Bazar.” A Republica, 30 Mar. 1919: 1.
49. “A Questão das Raças…,” A Republica, 2 Apr. 1919: 2.
50. “A Conferencia da Paz.” A Razão (Rio de Janeiro), 15 Apr. 1919: 5.
51. “O Brasil […].” O Imparcial (Rio de Janeiro), 20 Apr. 1919: 2.
52. “Raças e cores.” O Paiz, 21 Apr. 1919: 3.
53. “A repercussão…,” O Imparcial, 22 Apr. 1919: 5.
54. “O voto…,” O Imparcial, 22 Apr. 1919: 5.
55. “A conferencia…,” A Hora (Salvador), 23 Apr. 1919: 1.
56. Quote in “A conferencia …,” A Hora (Salvador), 23 Apr. 1919: 1. The Japan Times piece appears in “A desegualdade…,” A Hora (Salvador), 23 Apr. 1919: 1.
57. M. Benicio, “Os Japonezes,” O Fluminense (Niterói), 24 Apr. 1919: 1.
58. Ibid.,” 1. Also see, “As extravagancias…,” Diario de Santos (Santos), 24 Apr. 1919: 1.
59. “Comité Nacional Ruy Barbosa,” O Imparcial, 24 Apr. 1919: 5.
60. “Negros e mulatos,” A Razão, 24 Apr. 1919: 1.
61. It is also difficult not to hear these words echo in contemporary rhetoric about migrants stealing “Black jobs” in the United States.
62. “O Momento Politico,” O Imparcial, 25 Apr. 1919: 3.
63. While racial lynching is often cited as an example of the difference between Brazil and the United States, there is evidence that such violence did, in fact, also occur in Brazil, though on a much smaller scale than in the United States. Monsma, Karl. “Linchamentos raciais no pós-abolição: Alguns casos excepcionais do oeste paulista.” In Flávio, Gomes and Petrônio, Domingues, eds., Políticas da raça: Experiências e legados da abolição e da pós-emancipação no Brasil. São Paulo: Selo Negro Edições, 2014, 195–210.
64. Fred S. Fergusson, “Communicado Telegraphico…,” O Paiz, 23 Feb. 1919: 2.
65. Krugler, David F. 1919, the Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014; Nicholas Wisseman, “‘Beware.”
66. For example, “Odio de raças…,” O Paiz, 23 July 1919: 2; “Odio de raças.” O Paiz, 30 July 1919: 2.
67. According to Shimazu, Romania and Czechoslovakia also supported the measure when it was first introduced; Japan, 21.
68. Pessoa to Foreign Ministry, 25 Apr. 1919, in Epitácio Pessoa. Obras completas, vol. 14, Conferência da Paz, diplomacia e direito internacional. Rio de Janeiro: Ministério da Educação e Cultura, Instituto Nacional do Livro, 1961, 33.
69. “O embaixador brazileiro…,” A Razão, 25 Apr. 1919: 1.
70. “Questão de raças.” O Paiz, 24 Apr. 1919: 3.
71. “Porque não votamos…,” O Exemplo (Porto Alegre), 9 Mar. 1919: 1.
72. “Porque não votamos…,” 1. Slenes, Robert W. “O que Rui Barbosa não queimou: Novas fontes para o estudo da escravidão no século XIX.” Estudos Econômicos 13, 1 (Apr. 1983): 120.
73. “O velho preconceito…,” A Epoca (Rio de Janeiro), 5 Apr. 1917: 1–2.
74. “O velho preconceito…,” 1. For more on Santos, see Aderaldo Pereira dos Santos. “Arma da educação: Cultura política, cidadania e antirracismo nas experiências do Professor Hemetério José dos Santos (1870–1930)” (PhD diss., Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2019).
75. Celso Vieira, “Igualdade das raças.” O Paiz, 25 Apr. 1919: 3.
76. “Exploração indigna.” O Paiz, 25 Apr. 1919: 3.
77. “O Brasil…,” O Imparcial, 25 Apr. 1919: 2.
78. See Woodard, James P. A Place in Politics: São Paulo, Brazil, from Seigneurial Republicanism to Regionalist Revolt. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009, 75–76.
79. Also see, for example, “A questão…,” Jornal do Commercio (Rio de Janeiro), Edição da Tarde, 25 Apr. 1919: 2.
80. For example, Fred S. Fergusson, “O Enigma Japonez [sic].” O Paiz, 27 Apr. 1919: 1.
81. “O embaixador…,” A Razão, 30 Apr. 1919: 3.
82. For example, Celso Vieira, “Egualdade das raças.” O Pharol (Juiz de Fora), 27 Apr. 1919: 1; “Telegramas.” Pacotilha (São Luís), 25 Apr. 1919: 1; “Telegrammas.” A Provincia (Recife), 3 May 1919: 1.
83. “A desigualdade…,” Jornal do Recife (Recife), 28 Apr. 1919: 1.
84. “O conflicto…,” Jornal do Recife, 28 Apr. 1919: 1.
85. “A questão de raças…,” O Exemplo, 4 May 1919: 1.
86. Alberto, Terms of Inclusion, 69–109; Seigel, Uneven Encounters, 217–21.
87. Alberto, Terms of Inclusion, 69.
88. M. F., “13 de Maio.” O Exemplo, 11 May 1919: 1.
89. X. X., “A egualdade…,” O Exemplo, 11 May 1919: 2.
90. “Contrastes notaveis.” O Exemplo, 11 May 1919: 1.
91. This idea also lined up squarely with those of the Nationalist League mentioned above.
92. “A questão…,” O Exemplo, 4 May 1919: 1.
93. “As festas…,” O Exemplo, 6 July 1919: 1.
94. Original emphasis. D. Felippe Senillosa, “Evolução.” O Exemplo, 20 July 1919: 1. Also see D. Fellipe Senillos [sic], “Evolução.” O Exemplo, 27 July 1919: 1.
95. João do Rio, “O voto…,” O Exemplo, 7 Dec. 1919: 1.
96. Rio, João. Na Conferencia da Paz, vol. 1. Rio de Janeiro: Villas-Boas & Co., 1919, 103.
97. This and the remaining quotations in this paragraph and the next are from: João do Rio, “O voto.”
98. Santos, Ademir Pereira. Theodoro Sampaio: Nos sertões e nas cidades. Rio de Janeiro: Versal, 2010, 34.
99. On Salvador, see, among others, de Albququerque, Wlamyra Ribeiro. O jogo da dissimulação: Abolição e cidadania negra no Brasil. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2009; Butler, Kim D. Given Freedoms, Freedoms Won: Afro-Brazilians in Post-Abolition São Paulo and Salvador; Scott Ickes, African-Brazilian Culture and Regional Identity in Bahia, Brazil. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2013.
100. “A eloquente oração…,” O Imparcial, 5 May 1919: 3, Subgerência de Periódicos, Setor de Jornais, Biblioteca Pública do Estado da Bahia (BPEB). This is a different newspaper with the same name as the pro-Barbosa publication in Rio de Janeiro.
101. Translated in Skidmore, Black into White, 193.
102. Lesser, Jeffrey. “Are African-Americans African or American? Brazilian Immigration Policy in the 1920s.” Review of Latin American Studies 4, 1 (1992): 115–37.
103. Alberto, Terms, 43.
104. “A candidatura…,” A Razão, 10 Dec. 1917; Mendonça, Joseli Maria Nunes. Evaristo de Moraes: Tribuno da República. Campinas: Editora da UNICAMP, 2007, 333.
105. de Morais, Evaristo. Brancos e negros: nos Estados Unidos e no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Typ. Miccolis, 1922, 6. On other occasions, Moraes called out prejudice against men of color in Brazil. Mendonça, Evaristo de Moraes, 354.
106. “Os representantes…,” Correio da Manhã, 10 Aug. 1921: 3.
107. Chateuabriand, Assis. “A Immigração Japoneza.” O Jornal (Rio de Janeiro), 7 Jan. 1925: 1.
108. Moraes, Carlos de Souza. A ofensiva japonesa no Brasil: Aspecto social, econômico e politico da colonização nipônica. Porto Alegre: Livraria do Globo, 1942. See Shizuno, Elena Camargo. Os imigrantes japoneses na Segunda Guerra Mundial: Bandeirantes do oriente ou perigo amarelo no Brasil. Londrina: EDUEL, 2010, 48–50.