Liberata

Liberata, an enslaved woman, struggled to obtain freedom for her and her children, as well as to escape her master’s sexual harassment. At the age of ten, already working in Desterro, she found herself the victim of abuse and persecution. In 1793, she had a son with her master, who had promised to give them both their freedom. Liberata ended up persecuted by the master’s wife. She married João, a mixed-race man, who offered her money to buy her freedom. Motivated by jealousy, her master did not admit such marriage and did not agree with the payment offered for her manumission. A long criminal process then began, in which she sought to uphold her projects for a family and freedom in the courts.