Enciclopédia Negra

gouache and china-ink on paper  

The movement was severely repressed by Portuguese authorities. Margarida, who made a living begging in front of the Senhor do Bonfim Church, was “accused of conspiracy,” but at the end of the proceedings she was acquitted of the crime of lèse-majesté.

 gouache and china-ink on paper  

Maria tried to get out of her captivity, but slavery did not want to get out of her. She lived in Piauí, in regions where economic activities focused on the domestic market. 

Although in 1845 one of Maria’s mistresses freed “three-quarters” of her, Maria still had to serve for the rest of her life the rest of the family, which owned the remaining quarter.

acrylic on wood  

Pretextato, a teacher, founded a grammar school between 1855 and 1856 in the capital city of Rio de Janeiro. In a request, he asked to open “in his house [...] a small elementary school, admitting his black and brown colored children” to be located at Rua da Alfândega, 313.

He argued that “the parents of white students do not want their children to be together with those of black color” and “the teachers are loathe to admit black boys, and when some do admit them, [these boys] are not well received in class.”

acrylic, graphite and dry pastel on canvas   

The grocer Sabina da Cruz – or Sabina das Laranjas (Sabina of the Oranges) – became the symbol of a popular demonstration that took place in July 1889 during the political debates that marked the Abolition, the criticism of the monarchy and the republican propaganda.

Sabina sold oranges at the door of the medical school on Misericórdia Street, where she was well known and liked.

acrylic, shell, sisal stitching and Brazilian wood seed on canvas  

Known as “Boca da Noite” (Mouth of Night), Adelina was an enslaved woman, as was her mother. It is said that her father was a slave master, had riches, and promised his daughter that he would set her free when she turned seventeen. 

The promise was not kept and Adelina remained as an enslaved housemaid. Raised in the house of her master, she studied on her own and learned to read and write.

acrylic, sisal stitching and straw shaker on canvas

Narcisa Ribeiro (18th Century). 


oil on jacarandá veneer  

Living in Vila Rica de Ouro Preto, Narcisa Ribeiro got to experience up close the heyday of the gold rush in Minas Gerais. 

She was enslaved to the sacristan Diogo Pereira and gained fame for walking around the city “well-cared-for with camel wool skirts and sandals, as if she were a lady.”  

oil on jacarandá veneer  

Tito Soares was enslaved and trafficked from the hinterlands of Central Africa to Brazil when he was about 9 years old. Baptized with the Christian name Tito, he was sold to a powerful farmer in Vila de São Carlos, now Campinas, São Paulo, in 1829. 

Working as a barber, he gained a great reputation in the “art of healing,” especially during the smallpox epidemic. In 1865, Tito won his and his family’s freedom and became known as Master Tito. Now there is a street named in his honor in Campinas.

acrylic on cardboard  

Antônio Francisco Lisboa was the “natural son” of a Portuguese master builder, Manuel Francisco Lisboa, and an enslaved woman, Isabel. 

Witnesses of the time described him as mixed-race, dark-skinned, with a strong voice and short stature.

acrylic on cardboard 

Enslaved at first and later a freedwoman, Rita Gomes da Silva was nicknamed Rita Cebola (Rita Onion) because of her husband’s occupation. 

An African woman enslaved in Brazil, Catarina Cassange fled to live in freedom when she was pregnant. Between 1838 and 1839, her owner placed several search ads in the newspaper Diário do Rio de Janeiro.

acrylic on canvas  

Coming from the so-called “African Coast” and disembarking in Salvador “at a young age,” Rosa do O’Freire was enslaved and sold. As far as we know, she became a saleswoman in the city.

acrylic on canvas  

An African Nagô woman, Fortunata Maria da Conceição fought for the freedom of several captives.

acrylic and spray paint on paper  

Prominent in drama and the circus, Benjamin de Oliveira was a multifaceted artist. The son of an enslaved woman, in his childhood he worked helping tropeiros (herdsmen) on trips through the hinterland of Minas Gerais. 

acrílica e spray