A liberating childhood? The emancipation strategies of the mothers of ingênuos in the era of the Law of the Free Womb: São Paulo, 1871–1888

Clara Gouraud

A liberating childhood? The emancipation strategies of the mothers of ingênuos in the era of the Law of the Free Womb: São Paulo, 1871–1888
Suivre cet auteur Clara Gouraud
In Problèmes d'Amérique latine Volume 108, Issue 1, January 2018, pages 57 to 72

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This article examines lawsuits brought by mothers of ingênuos (free children born to slave mothers after the Brazilian Law of the Free Womb of 1871) against their former masters in order to get their children back. It shows how living closely to their children played an essential role in the notion of freedom for slave and freed mothers, at a time when slavery was gradually being abolished in Brazil. Exploring these legal sources shows how this law, which aimed to gradually end the slave-holding system by freeing the children of enslaved women, was employed ambiguously, particularly in the city of São Paulo—on the one hand by slave and freed mothers asserting their rights, and on the other hand by their former masters. Supported by abolitionist lawyers, these women claimed their total freedom by applying for child custody, while the slaveholders fought back, maintaining, by the use of the same law, their control over the ingênuos, who would become their fellow Brazilians as the abolition of May 13, 1888, approached.

Clara Gouraud

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ISO 690		Copy GOURAUD Clara, "A liberating childhood? The emancipation strategies of the mothers of ingênuos in the era of the Law of the Free Womb: São Paulo, 1871–1888", Problèmes d'Amérique latine, 2018/1 (No 108), p. 57-72. URL: https://preprod.cairn-int.info/journal-problemes-d-amerique-latine-2018-1-page-57.htm
ISO 690		Copy GOURAUD Clara, « Une enfance qui libère ? Stratégies d’émancipation des mères d’ingénus au temps de la loi du Ventre libre. São Paulo, 1871-1888 », Problèmes d'Amérique latine, 2018/1 (N° 108), p. 57-72. DOI : 10.3917/pal.108.0057. URL : https://preprod.cairn.info/revue-problemes-d-amerique-latine-2018-1-page-57.htm
MLA		Copy Gouraud, Clara. "A liberating childhood? The emancipation strategies of the mothers of ingênuos in the era of the Law of the Free Womb: São Paulo, 1871–1888", Problèmes d'Amérique latine, vol. 108, no. 1, 2018, pp. 57-72.
MLA		Copy Gouraud, Clara. « Une enfance qui libère ? Stratégies d’émancipation des mères d’ingénus au temps de la loi du Ventre libre. São Paulo, 1871-1888 », Problèmes d'Amérique latine, vol. 108, no. 1, 2018, pp. 57-72.
APA		Copy Gouraud, C. (2018). A liberating childhood? The emancipation strategies of the mothers of ingênuos in the era of the Law of the Free Womb: São Paulo, 1871–1888. Problèmes d'Amérique latine, 108, 57-72. https://preprod.cairn-int.info/journal--2018-1-page-57.htm.
APA		Copy Gouraud, C. (2018). Une enfance qui libère ? Stratégies d’émancipation des mères d’ingénus au temps de la loi du Ventre libre. São Paulo, 1871-1888. Problèmes d'Amérique latine, 108, 57-72. https://doi.org/10.3917/pal.108.0057
DOI		Copy https://doi.org/10.3917/pal.108.0057

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