Seditious Spaces tells the story of the Tailor's Conspiracy, an anti-colonial, anti-racist plot in Bahia, Brazil that involved over thirty people of African descent and one dozen whites. On August 12, 1798, the plot was announced to residents through bulletins posted in public spaces across the city demanding racial equality, the end of slavery, and increases to soldiers' pay: an act that transformed the conspiracy into a case of sedition. Routinely acknowledged by experts as one of the first expressions of Brazilian independence, the conspiracy was the product of groups of men with differing statuses and agendas who came together and constructed a rebellion. In this first book-length study on the conspiracy in English, Greg L. Childs sheds light on how relations between freed people, slaves, soldiers, officers, market women, and others structured political life in Bahia, and how the conspirators drew on these structures to plot, help, and heal each other through the resistance.

‘A breakthrough vision of the struggle for freedom in the age of Atlantic empires. Tracing the aspirations of a broad urban public yearning to create a better world, this impeccably researched, and beautifully written book makes an indispensable contribution to scholarship.’

Vincent Brown - author of Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War

‘In Seditious Spaces, Childs provides an exceptionally comprehensive study of the Tailors’ Conspiracy in Bahia, highlighting the pivotal role of Afro-Brazilians. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in race and slavery in Brazil and the Atlantic World.’

Keila Grinberg - University of Pittsburgh

‘Seditious Spaces is a thoughtful, rigorous study of the 1798 sedition in Bahia. Childs threads carefully both with and against the colonial archive, uncovering the distortions and silences embedded in the official proceedings. The result is a significant contribution to our understanding of the social and spatial dynamics that underpinned the movement, and a fresh perspective on Afro-Brazilian political cultures. Seditious Spaces offers a compelling example of how to move beyond archival skepticism and attend to the emotional and social textures of past political life.’

Martín Bowen Source: The Americas

‘Childs’s sensitive and sympathetic reading of the trial record provides novel insights into the humble men and women who imagined a new world.’

Hendrik Kraay Source: Hispanic American Historical Review

‘Seditious Spaces makes important contributions to our understanding of colonial resistance and slavery in late eighteenth-century Brazil. While it adds a much-needed in-depth study of the Tailors’ Conspiracy accessible to both specialists and general readers in English, the book’s insights about space, race, and resistance have broader implications for understanding the dynamics of resistance in the Atlantic World.’

Leonardo Barleta - The American Historical Review