A atuação de Manoel Dantas na instrução pública norte-riograndense (1897-1924)

Abstract

We analyzed education by the proceeding of M. Dantas as Public Instruction’s General Director of RN, presenting his contributions, being considered as a republican intellectual in the State of Rio Grande do Norte. We established as a temporal cut of the study the period from 1897, when he assumed the position of General Director, until 1924, the year that marks his death. The accomplishment of this research was pushed by the contribution to History of Brazilian education, from the prism of the regional history considering its contribution to the Memory of Rio Grande do Norte. Its development began with a bibliographical analysis of the historical studies on the Republic and education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to support the theoretical understanding of the subject. As main historical sources, we have analyzed the pages dedicated to public education in the Reports of Province President, highlighting the achievements of Manoel Dantas in education; the articles on public instruction written by M. Dantas in The People's Newspapers, we have used this newspaper as a support to understand Manoel Dantas' early ideals of instruction. We emphasize, therefore, that from the newspaper The Republic we find subsidies for the performance of Manoel Dantas as Director, agricultural inspector and representative of the State in the Geography Congresses, being that the essential source for the development of the research, as well as the Magazine created by the association of teachers, the Pedagogium, which brought significant information to our study. We also use educational legislation, especially the decree creating the position of director of public education, as a support for the construction of this writing. This research is part of the History of Education, including in its theoretical contribution authors of the New Cultural History as: Jaques Le Goff (1994), Bronislaw Backzo (1985), Sirinelli (1997) Bloch (2001) Burke (1992), Certau (1976). We therefore understand that Manoel Dantas' proceeding in defense of public education was completely based on the Republican ideology, and this poetic position led his actions in favor of education, where he actively collaborated during his life, thus constituting throughout his social journey important contributions to the education of Rio Grande do Norte in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, leaving posterity important collaboration to the History of Education in this state.