Antônio de Castro Alves (1847-1871) was the last of the prominent romantic poets of Brazil. He is best known for his poetic campaign in behalf of freedom for African slaves.

Antônio de Castro Alves was born in Curralinho (now Castro Alves) in the coastal province of Bahia on March 14, 1847, the son of a doctor. After receiving the best secondary education available, Antônio entered law school. He had begun to compose poetry even earlier and wrote some of his most impressive poems while a student. A hunting accident led to the amputation of a foot, and he dropped out of school. After 9 months of wandering through the backwoods of Brazil, he settled to write in the city of Salvador. He died of tuberculosis there at the age of 24 on July 6, 1871. Only one book of his poems, Espumas flutuantes (1870), was published before his death...