Narratives against Enslavement from the Court Rooms of Nineteenth-Century Brazil

This book examines the enslavement system in nineteenth-century Brazil, demonstrating the strategies that lawyers and plaintiffs used to fight for freedom in court. In nineteenth-century Brazil, countless enslaved and freed women and men appealed to court to claim their right to freedom or that of family members. Taken as a whole, these legal suits create a narrative against the institution of slavery. By analyzing 30 individual cases (1810–1881) from various parts of imperial Brazil, this book