FromthedockworkersofSerrinhacomestheresistance

The year was 1947. On the Serrinha hill, in Madureira, a group of dockworkers from the Sindicato do Trabalhadores em Trapiche e Café - also known as the Sociedade da Resistência dos Homens Pretos and founded in 1905 - created the Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Império Serrano. The founding of Império stems from a split within another samba school, Prazer da Serrinha, founded in 1930. The idea for the school took shape in the homes of families on the hill, many of them inhabited by workers from the port area who, in the early 20th century, migrated to neighborhoods far from downtown, yet crisscrossed by the railway line.

Image description: The image is a black and white photograph. In the central part, we see a man smiling, wearing a white shirt with black details and a tie. He is holding a trophy with a centered figure. In the background, there is a flag with the name "Império Serrano" and the year "1959". The flag has a diagonal striped pattern in black and white, with a star in the center. In the lower corner of the image, there is a caption that reads "Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo - Memória Pública".

Thus, the relationship between workers and samba and carnival was no longer limited to the port zone, and the north zone also became a stronghold of carnival traditions. Under the guidance of Mano Elói - president of the Sociedade da Resistência, a great supporter of the founding of samba schools and a resident of Serrinha - Império Serrano emerged as an important stronghold of leisure and political struggle - a samba school inspired by Black social networks. Its first president was João Gradim, Mano Elói's son-in-law.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of an adult man. He is looking down and to the left. The background is blurred, with light and dark tones. The man has short, graying hair, and a well-groomed beard and mustache. He is wearing a suit and a white shirt.

Even today, decades after its founding, G.R.E.S. Império Serrano still holds a strong affectionate memory of the dockworkers. In 2001, the samba school's theme paid tribute to the city's port workers. Titled O Rio Corre Para o Mar, the samba, which had Arlindo Cruz as one of its authors, sang of the dockworkers' struggle and the creation of Brazil's first union:

...Opened the port, ioiô, it's an open door, iaiá It's the trade, it's the city's progress And the city grew, and then the world got to know The cradle of happiness Every hillside sang, the parish smiled The whole old square applauded

And so the estiva was born The first union in Brazil (bis)...

Image description: The image is a color photograph of a group of people holding coffee sacks above their heads. The spatial arrangement faces the camera, with the individuals lined up side by side, occupying the entire frame. They are all wearing white shirts and light-colored pants. The coffee sacks are of different sizes and colors, predominantly in shades of yellow and brown. At the top of the image, there is a sign with the text "CAFE" in large white letters.

In 2015, with a theme about the Serrinha hill itself and the poet Silas de Oliveira, Império Serrano once again celebrated the Sociedade da Resistência and the dockworkers who arrived in the Rio suburbs in the early twentieth century.

Quando o jongo me chamou eu louvei Maria E no toque do tambor tem magia Veio gente da estiva, da Resistência também Todo mundo chegou no balanço do trem

This affective memory, constantly present in Império Serrano's enredos, highlights the institution's ties with Rio's working classes of the early 20th century, when the dockworkers' political struggle was allied with the need to promote recreational and social institutions that would enable leisure beyond the workplace. Port workers showed, and still show, that celebrating and playing Carnival is also a way of doing politics.