Freedmen and freedwomen mestizos in Minas Gerais and Buenos Aires, 18th and 19th centuries

Abstract

This article compares histories of mestiçados forros (freed mestizos) in Minas Gerais and Buenos Aires throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The analysis reveals similar social dynamics but also different, dimensions clearly linked to the historical importance assumed by both societies and the thriving economies developed in these regions. Despite the marked differences found, it was clear that the freedmestizos sought, with greater or lesser success, to lead their lives, transiting between captivity and life in freedom, linking themselves to specific economic activities, forming families and relationship networks, becoming masters and mistresses of slaves and inserting themselves socially and culturally in the realities they helped to shape.