One well known female slave from Brazil who is famous for her freedom from slavery and her integration into the white community is Xica da Silva. Henry Louis Gates describes the interesting life of this woman in the PBS documentary, "Brazil: A Racial Paradise?" Xica was a Afro-Brazilian woman born into slavery in the early 18th century in the town of Diamantina, Minas Gerais. Gates outlines that during this century, the Portuguese were highly interested in profiting from gold and diamond mining. Unlike many other Brazilian cities, Diamantina was home to free whites, free blacks, and free indians. Xica was a concubine to a very wealthy diamond mine owner, Joao Oliveira. They maintain a relationship, and after a short period he takes Xica as his wife.
Her story is fascinating, because she acquires large amounts of wealth being married to Oliveira, but still her dream was not to be rich, but to be free. Oliveira fears that his wife would flee from him if he granted her freedom. As a Christmas present, he buys Xica her freedom, and she remains with him, demonstrating her loyalty by bearing 13 children by Oliveira!
Although there are many myths surrounding the story of this famous Brazilian woman, what is true about her is that she lived like a white woman would have lived. Xica surrounded herself with the Europeans, attending social gatherings with whites, acquiring education and status within her community, and even being buried in an all white church.
Xica is associated with "Branqueamento," or whitening, of herself and her children. It was important to her to rid herself of her African heritage in order to climb the social ladder and achieve freedom.
