This article demonstrates the existence of black families and the presence of children from these families in public schools of Maranhão, in the nineteenth century. Based on a conjectural methodology newspapers ads of the nineteenth century were consulted and also codices relating to records of baptism, marriage, and documentation of the Government Secretary, located in the Public Archives of the State of Maranhão and Public Library Benedito Leite.
blacks; families; schools; Maranhão Province