Posted
on April 21, 2015
I
always feel a slight "uh-oh" feeling when I see that people are celebrating the
anniversary of someone's death rather than of his or her birth. I
steel myself for what might be one of those sad stories.
And
this IS one of those sad stories!
Joaquim
Jose da Silva Xavier was born on November 12, 1746, in the Portuguese
colony of Brazil. He was born in a poor family, and he became a
cattle driver, a miner, and a dentist. Being a dentist was not as
respected and well-paid back then; it was a position that required no
medical education. It is because of this job that Xavier became known
as Tiradentes (“Tooth-Puller”).
And
because of this national hero, there is now a holiday and a town in
Brazil called “Tooth-Puller” (Tiradentes)!
Another
job Tiradentes had was being a public official. He ended up traveling
all through Brazil, and he saw for himself how much gold was being
taken out of Brazil, and sent to Portugal. He discovered how valuable
the gold was and began to realize that his people and his land were
being exploited by their European colonizers.
He
learned something else, too. He learned about the American and French
Revolutions. It wasn't surprising that he eventually decided that Brazilians
should overthrow their Portuguese rulers.
Tiradentes
organized a rebellion, but he was betrayed by one of his trusted
partners. He and other group members were arrested. At the trial,
Tiradentes took full responsibility for the movement, and when he and
ten other group members were sentenced to death, the others had their
sentences commuted (reduced to imprisonment).
But Tiradentes was hanged.
The
Portuguese rulers tried to frighted all the Brazilians by displaying Tiradentes's body publicly – “Don't listen to those crazy ideas of
independence, or this will happen to you!” was probably their
message. But thirty years after Tiradentes's death – on this date
in 1792 – Brazil became independent of Portugal!
And of course, at that point, Tiradentes became an honored national hero - one of Brazil's first martyrs.
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