In the northeastern state of Bahia, Brazil, African and African-descendant women navigated the gendered landscape of enslavement and freedom. In this intricate terrain, they engaged in multifaceted battles to shape their own conditions and those of their children.
Focusing on the Atlantic port city of Salvador, the former colonial capital, Jane-Marie Collins's Emancipatory Narratives and Enslaved Motherhood investigates how African and African-descendant women struggled for emancipation, in their encounters with slave owners and the provincial authorities. The study critically examines the nuances of slavery and emancipation in nineteenth-century Bahia, marked by significant events such as slave rebellions in the 1830s, the illicit trade to Brazil until 1850, the enactment of the Free Womb Law in 1871, and abolition in 1888.
Collins's contribution to the literature on race, gender, emancipation, and motherhood in Brazil and the Americas is underscored by a meticulous analysis of freedom suits, manumission certificates, wills, baptismal registers,...
