Victoria: “Indigenous” Or “Pardo” Brazilian Woman? An Analysis of the Freedom Act Granted to An Enslaved Woman and Her Offspring in the Village of Santo Antônio and São Sebastião de Uberaba, 1846

ABSTRACT

In 1846, in Uberaba (then a village), Minas Gerais, an indigenous Purian woman named Victoria, along with her descendants, all of whom were enslaved, had the chance to be freed through a “Freedom Act” proposed by the municipal family court judge. The evidence found in the source of our study was examined considering not only a microanalysis but also the indigenist legislation of the 19th century and the enslavement of African descendants and native peoples. To set the enslaved free, the magistrate’s strategy was to sustain Victoria’s indigenous identity, evidence that her owner aimed to deconstruct systematically, albeit with flagrant gaps. Thus, the “formal truth” found in the Freedom Act proved different from the “real truth”, highlighted from the elements present in the analyzed document.

Keywords:
Indigenous Slavery; Puri; Enslaved Family; Freedom Act; Uberaba