Madalena

In March 1823, troops attacked the Mocajuba mocambo in the region adjacent to Tocantins River in Grão-Pará. About twenty Black people were killed, many others were injured and the Queens of the mocambo, Hilária and Madalena, were imprisoned. When questioned, they revealed the existence of commercial and solidarity networks created by the fugitives, linking Belém to the region’s various rivers and villages. Madalena said that the quilombolas stored rifles, lead, gunpowder and machetes under the leadership of former enslaved women.