Caetana Says No Women's Stories from a Brazilian Slave Society [Paperback]

This 2002 book presents the account of two nineteenth-century Brazilian women struggle to lead a life on their own terms.Here are the true and dramatic stories of two nineteenth-century Brazilian women--one young and born a slave, the other old and from an illustrious planter family--and how each in her own way sought to have her way: the slave woman struggled to avoid an unwanted husband; the woman of privilege assumed a patriarch's role to endow a family of her former slaves with the means for a free life. Through these small histories Lauderdale Graham casts new light on larger meanings of slave and free, female and male.Here are the true and dramatic stories of two nineteenth-century Brazilian women--one young and born a slave, the other old and from an illustrious planter family--and how each in her own way sought to have her way: the slave woman struggled to avoid an unwanted husband; the woman of privilege assumed a patriarch's role to endow a family of her former slaves with the means for a free life. Through these small histories Lauderdale Graham casts new light on larger meanings of slave and free, female and male.These true and dramatic stories of two nineteenth-century Brazilian women; one young and born a slave, the other old and from an illustrious planter family; show how each in her own way sought to exercise control over her life. The slave woman struggled to avoid an unwanted husband and the woman of privilege assumed a patriarch's role to endow a family of her former slaves with the means for a free life. Sandra Lauderdale Graham casts new light on larger meanings of slave and free, female and male, through these compact histories.Part I. The First Story: Caetana Says No: Patriarchy Confounded; Part II. The Second Story: Inacia Wills her Way: Patriarchy Confirmed. Two women, different roles, both shaking the structures of established male authority through the intransigence of their personal moral decisions. In this marvelous book Lauderdale l