Thomas D. Rogers

A Peculiarity of Labor in This Region: Workers' Voices in the Labor Court Archive at the Federal University of Pernambuco

This research note provides historical context for the creation of Brazils labor judiciary and tells the story of an innovative partnership forged between the archive of Pernambucos regional labor tribunal and the Federal University of Pernambuco. It also engages methodological questions about the use of these labor court cases, reviewing some of the scholarly literature based on these sources and describing some research projects under way. Pernambuco has powerful historical links to the sugarcane industry, and because the history of labor in this industry is the terrain of our work, this note pays particular attention to the relevance of labor court cases for studying Pernambucos sugarcane region.

“I Choose This Means to Be With You Always”: Getúlio Vargas’s Carta Testamento

“To the wrath of my enemies I leave the legacy of my death.” So began a note written in the hand of President Getulio Vargas and found by one of his aides a week before Vargas took his own life on August 24, 1954, and permanently altered the twentieth-century history of Brazil. While the legacy he referred to has never been fully defined, one result of his death was a renovated cult of Vargas’s personality and a political setback for his adversaries. Using another document as his tool, Vargas tried and arguably succeeded in giving direction to the legacy of his death. This longer and more famous letter was found near Vargas’s body after he killed himself. Quickly acquiring a title, this Carta Testamento has been subject to persistent dispute, challenge, interpretation, and glorification. Opponents of getulismo obstinately dispute the letter’s authenticity while each anniversary of the president’s death finds political devotees offering homage to the text.1