João Cândido Felisberto (1880-1969) statue

João Cândido Felisberto was born to a poor Afro-Brazilian family. His father and mother were former slaves. He entered the Brazilian Navy in 1894 at the age of 13.

The conditions for Brazilian sailors at the time were terrible, and being a black, Felisberto suffered even more from the prejudice of his white colleagues in the Brazilian navy. Joao Candido was stationed in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England for two years during the construction of the dreadnought Minas Geraes, and it was while experiencing the living conditions and increased freedoms of Newcastle that Felisberto realised how unacceptable conditions in the Brazilian Navy were.[1] In 1910, after a hugely unpopular whipping of a sailor, he led a revolt, known in Brazil as "Revolta da Chibata" ("Revolt of the Whip"). Sailors took control of two Brazilian battleships, Minas Gerais and São Paulo, both built in England, as well as two other major warships. Their demands included the abolition of torture as a form of punishment and improved living conditions in the Brazilian Navy. The new Brazilian president, Hermes da Fonseca, approved an amnesty, but the government later went back on this promise. In the revolt's aftermath Felisberto and many of his follower mutineers were either arrested, tortured or murdered in prison. Felisberto himself was tortured, and also contracted tuberculosis, but he recovered after some months and was eventually released. The Brazilian press nicknamed him "Almirante Negro", or the "Black Admiral", for his actions.