Abstract
In this article, we analyze how the bodies, the sexuality, and the labor of women of color influenced the acquisition of their manumission and the enjoyment of their free status. Based on lawsuits from the Colonial Court in Mariana, Minas Gerais, we discuss how being a woman was a constraint, or risk factor for those who had to face obstacles to keep their autonomy as coartadas, freed or free-born women. At the same time, in these legal processes also emerged their strategies to take advantage of their gender in order to defend their own interests, such as for instance the breaking of old ties of dependence.
Women of Color; Slavery; Freedom; Court Lawsuits