Gender, slavery and religion: Flora’s freedom from the perspective of American missionary Martha Watts (1881-1892)

The article seeks to open a crack to glimpse the story of a black woman named Flora Maria Blumer de Toledo and the missionary Martha Watts, focusing on issues of gender, slavery and religion. The study analyses the case of Flora’s manumission and her service as a cook to a Methodist school in Piracicaba (São Paulo), directed by Martha. Although several studies mentioned certain issues related to the domestic services of freedwomen during the 1800s, Flora’s case expands the range of diversity, given that her service was provided to an American school. The article draws on various documentary and bibliographic sources, in addition to the collection of Martha Watts’ correspondence originally published by the Woman’s Missionary Advocate, a periodical of the Methodist Women’s Missionary Society of the United States.

Keywords:
Gender; Slavery; Religion