"This is the third published diary of the remarkable black woman whose acclaimed Child of the Dark (1962)
shocked readers with its firsthand account of urban poverty in Brazil. Bitita's Diary offers a similarly eye-opening
portrayal, this time of rural poverty. Although many years have intervened between the recollections and their
retelling, each chapter paints a compelling portrait of rural life in the 1920s and '30s. The theme of racial discrimination
appears on nearly every page as Bitita ... describes the degrading treatment to which blacks were routinely subjected
by whites and lighter-skinned mulattoes. The author balances her bitter memories with tender and humorous reminiscences.
... The book presents an often riveting account of a social reality that sheds light on Brazilian culture today.
All levels."
-- Choice
M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Web Site, September, 2000
Summary
Carolina Maria de Jesus (1915-1977), nicknamed Bitita, was a destitute black Brazilian woman born in the rural
interior who migrated to the industrial city of Sa=o Paulo in search of work and a better life. She was self-taught
and enjoyed a degree of celebrity after the publication in 1960 of her diary under the title, Quarto de Despejo
(The Garbage Room), which became the best selling book in Brazilian history. Translated into more than a dozen
languages, it sold over 300,000 copies in English hardcover alone, as Child of the Dark. Bitita's Diary, drafted
just prior to her death, covers her early life in the 1920s and 1930s. Originally published in French as Journal
de Bitita and appearing now for the first time in the English language, Bitita's Diary is the most important document
testifying to the hardships of lower-class black Brazilian women ever written. Offering extensive details about
race and race relations, religion in rural Brazil (both Roman Catholicism and spiritism), life in small towns and
cities of the interior, sexual intimidation, and the hardships of sharecropping, Carolina provides an insightful
and moving glimpse of the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 from the vantage point of a poor person caught up in its
promise.
Table of Contents
1. Childhood
2. The Godmothers
3. The Holiday
4. Being Poor
5. A Little History
6. The Blacks
7. My Family
8. The City
9. My Son-in-Law
10. Grandfather's Death
11. School
12. The Farm
13. I Return to the City
14. The Domestic
15. Illness
16. The Revolution
17. The Rules of Hospitality
18. Culture
19. The Safe
20. The Medium
21. The Mistress
22. Being a Cook
