The story of Camila O'Gorman (1828-1848), the daughter of a prominent merchant in the Buenos Aires community, is one of the most famous cases of a young person challenging both parental and state authority. In 1847, at the height of Rosas's power,… [more]

Children frequently turned to the courts in seeking greater independence from their parents, especially in matters related to marriage choice. Dozens of petitions asking the state for permission to marry were filed at a time when the state was… [more]

Manuela Rosas (1817-1898), the daughter of Juan Manuel de Rosas, emerged as one of the most important political symbols of the early 19th century. In 1838, her mother, Doña Encarcación, died, and her father proclaimed his daughter as the nation's… [more]

In Córdoba, Argentina's second largest province, two women, Ignacia Funes and Teresa Bulnes, found themselves defending the conduct of two children, who were accused by their stepfather, known only as "Roca," of composing pro-Unitarian songs. This… [more]

During the Rosas era, parents in Argentina grew increasingly concerned about the behavior of their children. Lawsuits throughout this turbulent period illustrate the disagreements between young people and their parents over marriage choice, property… [more]

In early 19th-century Argentina, political leaders considered schools to be one of the nation's most important institutions of social control and politicization. The following is an 1817 handwriting assignment from a public elementary school in the… [more]

Since 1810, social critics in Buenos Aires had long been concerned about young people from the lower classes—especially young men—exercising greater independence within the home. With the decline of parental authority, they were alarmed at the… [more]

This chart demonstrates the fluctuating attendance rates of school aged children in a select number of schools in Buenos Aires between 1815 and 1831. This is not a complete list of the port city’s schools; it represents schools that maintained the… [more]

Shifting boundaries of parental roles and expectations, young people's behaviors, and social status in early to mid-19th century Argentina are examined through a variety of primary sources, helping students to understand the reasons for underdevelopment, authoritarianism, and political instability in Argentina past and shedding light on such continuing problems in Latin America today.

One of the very first slave narratives, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797), served as a prototype for the well-known slave autobiographies of the 19th century written by such fugitive slaves as Frederick Douglass and Harriet… [more]