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Research ArticleArticle

Slave, Free, and Freedwomen

Succeeding Generations of Africans and Afro-descendants in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Minas Gerais

DOUGLAS COLE LIBBY
African Economic History, February 2016, 43 (1) 109-135; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/aeh.43.1.109
DOUGLAS COLE LIBBY
*Douglas Cole Libby is Professor of History at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and Senior Research Fellow of the Brazilian National Research Council. He has published a number of books in Brazil as well as articles in the following journals: Journal of Family History, Luso-Brazilian Review, Journal of Latin American Studies, The Americas, and Latin American Research Review, among others.
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Abstract

This essay, based on data from a broad, on-going research project, focuses on seven generations of the female members of a family initiated sometime in the 1740s in the town of São José do Rio das Mortes by a West African slave couple. The stability of the Moreira da Silva family contributed to its notable respectability within the community, not least thanks to the participation of its women in local affairs. Bearing in mind that common law property was the norm throughout the entire period studied, these women can be found actively managing assets, including chattel. As is so often the case in gender studies situated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the documentation yields little direct evidence as to female occupations although the indications are that the first three generations engaged in commercial activities. In the realm of social relations and local prestige/power as reflected in practices of godparenthood, the Moreira women far outstripped their menfolk, demonstrating that, notwithstanding overarching patriarchal tendencies, female contributions to family respectability may have been greater than those of males.

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African Economic History: 43 (1)
African Economic History
Vol. 43, Issue 1
26 Feb 2016
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Slave, Free, and Freedwomen
DOUGLAS COLE LIBBY
African Economic History Feb 2016, 43 (1) 109-135; DOI: 10.3368/aeh.43.1.109

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Slave, Free, and Freedwomen
DOUGLAS COLE LIBBY
African Economic History Feb 2016, 43 (1) 109-135; DOI: 10.3368/aeh.43.1.109
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • An Introduction to the Moreira da Silva Family
    • Dealing with the Modest Properties of the Moreira da Silva Women
    • Of Godparenthood and Power in a Small Community
    • Conclusion
    • Footnotes
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