Black Women in the Formation of the Cocoa Economy in Ilhéus (BA)

Slave Labor and Family Relations, 1850-1888

Abstract

This article focuses on enslaved women in the municipality of Ilhéus, southern Bahia, between 1850 and 1888, when the number of cocoa plantations was increasing. The aim is to investigate the activities the women were involved in, their family conditions, and the challenges they faced during their enslavement. The main sources probate records and a document entitled Book of classification of slaves for liberation by the emancipation fund. In addition to performing essential services in the fields, as well as in urban and domestic spaces, enslaved women’s childbearing potential was a significant factor for slaveholders of the time, particularly after the end of the Atlantic slave trade in 1850. In this context, enslaved women in Ilhéus played a role in the development of the cocoa economy and responded in diverse ways to the demands of slavery.