Cândido da Fonseca Galvão

Cândido da Fonseca Galvão (Dom Obá II d'África)

Cândido da Fonseca Galvão, also known as Dom Obá II D'África (Lençóis, 1845-1890), was a Brazilian military and nobleman. Son of freed Africans, and grandson of the Obá (king) Abiodun of the Oyo Empire, he was also known simply as Dom Obá.[1][2][3]

He voluntarily enlisted to fight in the Paraguay War and, due to his bravery on the battlefield, he was awarded an honorary officership of the Brazilian Army. After the war he went to live in Rio de Janeiro, becoming famous in the carioca society. Dom Obá was a personal friend of Emperor D. Pedro II, and was revered as an African nobleman among the city's blacks and mulattoes.

Dom Obá annually visited the Palace of São Cristóvão, where he was received as an African prince. He was a defender of the abolition of slavery, of the Brazilian Monarchy and acted against racism.

With the fall of the Brazilian Empire in 1889, Galvão was persecuted by the republicans, who annulled his military rank of alferes. He died soon after, in 1890.

References

  1. ↑ Colin A. Palmer, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (2006). Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history: the Black experience in the Americas, Volume 2. The University of Michigan, Macmillan Reference USA. p. 634. ISBN 9780028658186.
  2. ↑ Dale Torston Graden (2006). From Slavery to Freedom in Brazil: Bahia, 1835-1900, Dialogos Series, (Albuquerque, N.M.). University of New Mexico Press. p. 76. ISBN 9780826340511.
  3. ↑ Eduardo da Silva (1992). "Slaves, Freedmen and Free Men of Colour in the Transition from Slavery in Brazil, a Case Study: The Life, Times and Ideas of Dom Oba II D'Africa, Prince of the People, C.1845-1890". The University of London. p. 31.

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