The amazing biography of Pato Sekou, father of some two hundred and fifty children

Pato Seco is the pseudonym of the well known to many Brazilians Roku José Florenzo. He was born a slave, and all the hardships of slave life were familiar to him from childhood. From the rest of the slaves Pato stood out inordinate physical strength and male beauty, because, after another resale, the new owner gave Pato an unusual job – to impregnate slaves. Pato Sekou was forced to do this mechanically, without any feelings or emotions towards the slave girls. To keep in good shape, Pato was well fed and not bothered with any other work; besides impregnating, he was only engaged in walking and caring for the horses.

It was not until he was forty years old that the slave was granted his freedom. His amazing biography is what we want to tell about in this article.

Pato was born in 1828, in Soracoba, in the south of Brazil. After ten years he was sent to the slave market and there he was looked after by one of the large landowners.

Having outstanding physical data, after a few years Pato became a slave impregnator for his master. The slave had no right to start a family, his main duty was to have regular intercourse with the slave girls.

The calculating master was thus guaranteed to get strong healthy offspring from the slave girls and could easily maintain the number of his slaves at the right level. Boys born from Pato could do the hardest physical work.

According to a rough estimate, Pato Sekou had about two hundred and fifty children who also became slaves. Those who did not fit the ‘standards’ were sold on the slave market.

Roku was kept in quite comfortable conditions, compared to other slaves, and for unconditional fulfilment of his work the master allowed him what was forbidden for others – the slave travelled to the city on his own, delivering and receiving mail there, and in addition, lived in a separate room in the stables, where he took care of the horses.

Several attempts to escape from such a ‘happy’ life were unsuccessful. Roku was well known in the neighbourhood, and because of his two-metre height it was simply impossible to hide, the slave was caught and forced to do what he was doing before.

In addition to his escapes, Roku organised escapes for other slaves. He was a very respected man in his environment and was constantly called upon for help and to resolve disputes and conflicts that arose.

Roku helped quite a large number of slaves to escape. Fugitives united in free villages ‘silimbo’, these were real fortresses of freedom and fortitude.

After the abolition of slavery in Brazil, in the late eighties of the nineteenth century, Pato became free, and his former master even allotted him a fairly large plot of land from his holdings. There Pato established a cane sugar farm. The work was hard and gave very little income, but it was independent and free.

After years of self-abuse, Pato worked for himself, managing his time. He married a girl he had known for a long time, their acquaintance having taken place during one of his trips to collect the mail. His wife bore Pato nine children, he was highly respected in the neighbourhood, and on his one hundred and thirtieth birthday there were so many guests that the table for refreshments had to be set right on the ground.

Unfortunately, six months after the anniversary with Pato had an accident, he contracted tetanus, stepping on a rusty nail, and then passed away.

Pato lived a long and complicated life, managed to endure slavery, established his own business and left behind numerous offspring. Thousands of people who knew and respected him said goodbye.

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The amazing biography of Pato Sekou, father of some two hundred and fifty children
Knowing it was their daughter’s last birthday, the parents threw a grand party for her!