摘要：http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1984-9222.2014v7n13p177 This paper discusses the participation of free workers in the festivities for the abolition of slavery in Rio de Janeiro. Among them are civil servants, printers and clerks. While the formers had a day off to celebrate the freedom of slaves, the clerks had to drive the newspapers to claim participation in the party. This difficulty was, to a certain extent, the very condition experienced daily by those workers. Furthermore, the printers could easily celebrate the abolition through processions and manufacture of special papers. They often saw themselves as indispensable to the abolition, because they had been active in his graphic production. Despite the May 13 opened a new era in the world of work, it was still necessary to eliminate some relations of dependency and insecurity experienced by free workers.
