To Remember the Curse, To Feel the Prophecy

Very little is known about Xica Manicongo, who is mentioned in the records of the Inquisition’s visit to Brazil as Francisco Manicongo or Francisco Congo. She lived in the Captaincy of Bahia at the end of the sixteenth century and belonged to a shoemaker, which suggests that she lived in an urban area. The first complaint made against her came from an enslaved woman belonging to the Jesuits, who accused her of playing “the role of a female.” Her second accuser denounced her her for refusing to wear “men’s clothes given by [her] master.” Today, the LGBTQI+ movement and Black transvestites recognize in Xica a symbol of their struggle for rights.