This article is a tribute to the historian Ana Lugão Rios, a pioneer in the study of the Post-Abolition period in Brazil. Based on her contributions, the main aim of this paper is to expand the research of experiences of black families and the impact on their size of market oriented production in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro. With the reduction of available land due to large-scale orange production, black families temporarily grew in size in areas of small holdings, which enabled social mobility in certain extreme situations. The civil registers of births from the municipality of Nova Iguaçu from 1888 - 1940 will be examined in order to achieve this.
post-abolition; family; social mobility