This article intends to discuss the constructed representations of the population of African descent (mestizos and blacks) by different actors in the reality of the backlands, between the years 1870 to 1930, particularly in the region of Vitoria da Conquista, in the southwest of the state of Bahia. The sources used are, above all, newspapers and crimes cases, as it is possible that such documents facilitate entrance into the everyday world of the poorer population.
social representations; african-descendants; backlands Bahia