Caetana Our Noes (Caetana Says No)

Caetana was Brazilian, the daughter of African parents who possibly arrived in Brazil between 1810 and 1820. She lived with relatives on the Rio Claro farm, a large coffee plantation with hundreds of enslaved people. In 1835, at the age of seventeen and working as a housemaid, she was forced to marry Custodio, a tailor. Both were part of an “elite of enslaved people,” as their occupations gave them access to the big house. However, she decided to resist the masters’ command to live a marital life and filed a lawsuit asking for the marriage’s annulment. Caetana said no!