1st black mayor of SP built viaducts and playgrounds – 09/29/2024 – Power

The city of São Paulo only had two black mayors among the more than 50 who commanded the capital of São Paulo during the republican period.

Appointed by the then state governor Ademar de Barros, Paulo Lauro was the first and was at the head of the municipal Executive from August 1947 to August 1948.

Only 50 years later would a black person return to manage the city. Celso Pitta was the first black mayor to be directly elected by vote and the second to lead the São Paulo government. He held the position between 1997 and 2001.

Lawyer born in Descalvado, in the interior of São Paulo, Paulo Lauro stood out in the criminal and electoral areas — according to reports from contemporaries, he was one of the greatest experts in electoral law in the country in his time. Versatile, he also worked as a journalist and teacher.

In the 1930s, he became famous for defending a man accused of killing four people in a case that became known as “the Chinese restaurant crime”, the subject of a book by historian Boris Fausto (1930-2023). The man was acquitted due to insufficient evidence and Paulo Lauro’s role as a lawyer in the case gained him prominence in the city.

With just a year at the helm of government — it was common for appointed mayors to only serve a short time in office —, Paulo Lauro opened playgrounds and district markets. Among his most notable works are the Dona Paulina and Nove de Julho viaducts, both in the central region of the city.

His political trajectory is the target of some criticism. According to Ramatis Jacino, professor at UFABC (Federal University of ABC), Paulo Lauro reproduced in the city of São Paulo the policies of the then state governor Ademar de Barros, his political godfather.

“Due to the lack of political autonomy, since he was appointed and not elected, or because of his unavoidable commitments to rural oligarchies”, he says.

“São Paulo was experiencing great economic expansion, and the Ademar government, in the spirit of the phrase ‘São Paulo Não Pode Parar’, stood out as one that invested in roads and urban works”, says the professor, member of the African and Afro studies group -Brazilians from the university.

Jacino says that Paulo Lauro’s appointment caused discomfort in the “conservative and racist society of São Paulo at the time”. According to the professor, however, the presence of black people in politics during that period, although uncommon, was not unusual.

“However, the resistance must have been attenuated because, when nominated, Lauro already had a certain notoriety. Furthermore, he had been nominated by a legitimate representative of the São Paulo establishment. In any case, if he had been a candidate it would be difficult for him to be elected to a majority position” , he states.

“He was a black man absolutely committed to the interests of the white elites, he did not claim his racial status.”

The Palmares Cultural Foundation presents another vision. Lauro appears on the institution’s website on the list of Black Personalities, cited as “a great example of a man, politician and lawyer”.

The institution also highlights that Lauro left “precious” writings and cites as an example works such as “Electoral Legislation Practice”, “Commented Electoral Code” and “Ineligibility Law Explained in a Practical Way”.

For Jacino, Paulo Lauro’s presence in São Paulo politics may have been important from a symbolic point of view, to raise the self-esteem of the black population.

“However, due to the lack of any commitment to the black population on the part of that ruler and the fact that not even, as far as we know, has he ever assumed himself as black, I do not believe that his presence has contributed to greater participation politics”, says the professor.

After serving as mayor, Paulo Lauro served as a federal deputy throughout the 1950s and 1960s.