Aunt Ana

In 1835, Aunt Ana led an insurrection of enslaved people on Francisco Antônio de Carvalho’s farm in the Ibiapaba mountain range, in the hinterland of Ceará, near Viçosa. Due to the sugar cane plantations’ decline, the region was experiencing a period of recession, which worsened the way captives were treated. What triggered the uprising were the punishments imposed on an elderly enslaved woman. In the absence of the master, the enslaved, led by Aunt Ana, invaded the residence, murdered everyone inside and set fire to the farm house. Some insurgents fleeing towards Pernambuco freed from jail an enemy of their master called Jerônimo Cabaceira, who pursued him on his return to the farm and forced him to suicide.