Vitória, Catarina and Josefa (Vogue)

These were three African women who connected slave society in the far reaches of southern Brazil. They were part of the enslaved population in Viamão and other areas of Rio Grande do Sul since the middle of the eighteenth century. Catarina, Josefa and Vitória ended up playing a key role in setting up a kinship and godparent network that extended family ties. They appear in the sources baptizing natural and legitimate children and also as godmothers of countless other baptized children.