Nagé

Nagé was a capoeirista in early 20th century Salvador who was killed during the brutal persecution led by Police Chief Pedro de Azevedo Gordilho, known as "Pedrito". This persecution, which began in 1920 when Pedrito assumed command of the Bahian police cavalry, represented one of the darkest periods in capoeira history.

Note: This individual is DISTINCT from Mestre Nagé (José Anastácio de Santana, ~1923-1958), who was born after the Pedrito persecution ended and became a notable figure photographed by Pierre Verger and documented in Frede Abreu's 2017 book "Nagé, o homem que lutou capoeira até morrer". The sharing of apelidos was common in capoeira.

Mestre Onça Preta, who witnessed this era as a boy, recalled this Nagé among the fallen in a 1972 O Dia newspaper interview: "Besourinho, Doze Homens, Mãozinha, Antônio Galindéu, Geraldo Chapeleiro, Finado Manteiga, Nagé, Paulo César de Moura, Gasolinha, Juvelino and many others". According to Onça Preta, Pedrito's cavalry squad "conducted a real massacre among the old capoeira masters, not in open combat. Generally he assassinated them after capture, with the body appearing days later thrown in the woods, the back opened by knife cuts".

No further biographical details about this Nagé survive beyond this single reference in Onça Preta's testimony, making him one of the many anonymous victims of state violence against Afro-Brazilian culture and resistance.