Chica da Silva, a well-known historical figure of Brazilian historiography, is an excellent example of “race democracy” in Brazil. Born of an African slave and a military nobleman of Portuguese descent, Chica da Silva won her social status and prestige by her licentiousness and sensuality that is a characteristic attributed to the black or “mulata” female in the Brazilian popular culture. In the eighteenth century in the gold mining region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, women, especially white, was scarce. “Concubinage” was a common practice and many slave-owners freed their slave mistresses upgrading their social status. Chica da Silva was the mistress of João Fernandes de Oliveira, who was the king’s representative in the region, he was also