Liberdade was previously known as "Campo da Forca" (
Field of the Gallows) until the late 19th century, and was an area reserved for the
execution of slaves and convicts. Death was considered the only path to liberty (
liberdade) for slaves. The condemned were led to the Igreja Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte (
Church of Our Lady of Good Death) to perform a final prayer for a rapid and painless death. Slaves and convicts were executed in the Largo da Forca (
Gallows Square), the public square now known as Praça da Liberdade. Cemitério dos Aflitos (
Cemetery of the Afflicted) was created in
1774 to bury executed slaves, people who had committed suicide, and others who could not be interred elsewhere. The cemetery was replaced by housing development in the 20th century, and the simple Capela dos Aflitos on Rua dos Estudantes is a remnant of the era. Igreja da Santa Cruz das Almas dos Enforcados (
Church of Santa Cruz of the Souls of the Hanged), prominently located to the south of the public square, commemorates the dead of Campo da Forca. Executions were carried out in Campo da Forca until
1891, and the square was renamed Liberdade. The
Japanese presence in the neighborhood began in 1912. One of the reasons for this was that almost every property in the region had a basement, making rent incredibly cheap by housing multiple families, albeit at a poor quality. Due to its location, workers could get around easily and support the nascent Nipo-Brazilian community (know
n as Nikkeis). Their presence would be accompanied by the
Chinese,
Taiwanese,
Korean and
Okinawan immigrants to Brazil in the upcoming decades. By the early 20th century, commercial activities began to emerge to service this immigrant population: hostels, markets with imported goods, a house that made tofu, another that made
manjū (a Japanese confection), and also job-creating firms, Liberdade gained the label of "the Japanese street". In 1915, the
Taisho Shogakko (Taisho Primary School) was founded to educate the children of the Japanese immigrants, then approximately 300 people. In 1932, there were about 2,000 Japanese people in the city of São Paulo. They came directly from
Japan and also from the
interior of São Paulo, after concluding their work contracts on plantations, in search of a work opportunity in the booming city. 1946 saw the founding of the São Paulo
Shimbun newspaper, the first postwar periodical among the
Nikkei, as well as the inauguration of the still operating Sol Bookstore (
Taiyodo), where Japanese books can be found. In March 1947, an orchestra formed by Professor Masahiko Maruyama performed the first post-war concert, in the Auditorium of the Paulista Teacher's Center on Avenida Liberdade. In 1953, Yoshikazu Tanaka inaugurated a 5-story building on Rua Galvão Bueno, with a hall, restaurant, hotel and a large projection room on the ground floor with room for an audience of 1,500 named Cine Niterói, which grew to rival other Japanese-operated theaters in the region. In April 1964, the Japanese Cultural Association of São Paulo (Bunkyô) building was inaugurated. In the 1970s, the subway station of
Liberdade was constructed as part
Line 1, the first
São Paulo Metro line, altering the urban composition of the region. ==Overview==