In this paper, I analyze the readings of manumission made by freed people and masters and what their different kinds meant for the experience of freedom in a peripheral mining area in the Portuguese America: the village of Rio de Contas, Captaincy of Bahia. After discussing the kind of sources that has been favored in most of the studies about the subject, I determine the most relevant type of manumission in Rio de Contas in order to understand the meanings the slaves and masters assigned to it.
Manumission; kinds of manumission; experiences of freedom