THE PATRON

In 1753, when Chica da Silva and Francisca Pires appeared before the ecclesiastical visit in Tejuco to sign their admission to the crime of concubinage with Manuel Pires Sardinha, “as neither knew how to write, the reverend inquisitor signed on their behalf.” Chica, like most of the slaves scattered throughout Brazil, was illiterate. Nevertheless, during her relationship with João Fernandes de Oliveira, she had access to a refined culture and was before long a lady “occupied with the service of her house [and] living off her slaves.” The chief judge was a cultured man, educated at Coimbra and possessed of a refined musical and theatrical taste. Chica started to attend the soirées, plays, and musical recitals he promoted, especially the operas, the preferred style of the day. She also received some formal education, which at least enabled her to sign her own name and distance herself from her past of enslavement and illiteracy.

The following annotation can be found on various papers registering her daughters' movements to and from Macaúbas nunnery: “So signed she, [Francisca da Silva de Oliveira], the mother of the charge,” is incontrovertible proof that she possessed this ability.