Stereotypes Of Chica Da Silva, By Furtado

Chica Da Silva Chica da Silva was a freed slave living in Brazil during the eighteen century. While there are many false myths and stereotypes connected to Chica, Furtado’s biography’s goal was to find out the truth. To not only discover what Chica Da Silva was really like, but to also defend her people from the stereotypes that have followed them for many years. Furtado took a different approach to researching the famous freed slave. Instead of using popular beliefs and myths to make assumptions on what Chica must have been like based on her race and family background. She uses old official documents to learn what her lifestyle consisted of, who her family was, and what social class she associated with. The book addresses the negative image history has written for the famous Chica Da Silva. Contrary to popular belief she was not this hideous, promiscuous, and uneducated woman. Furtado uses historical documents such as baptismal records, law suites, and petitions to piece together Chica’s life and prove these myths to be incorrect. By doing this she freed herself from making assumptions and stereotyping Chica based off of the typical mulatto that lived back then. Although Fertado “used [Chica] as a medium through which to shed new light on the women of her period”(xix) and freeing not only [Chica} but women of her kind from “the stereotypes that

Chica Da Silva is known in history to be promiscuous, uneducated, and mean woman. Furtado proves this to be untrue through her unique research using historical records from the eighteenth century. While she may have proved Brazilian women back then were nothing like their stereotype, we still see people, mainly men, today who clearly believe this stereotype is true in this age. Today they still treat women as if they are nothing but slaves to their sexual