Gender, class and race in the social system of Desterro (1877 - 1882)

Abstract

This article deals with two stories of women united in the same relationship system, built inside a manor house run by one of them, in the city of Desterro (Florianópolis), capital of Santa Catarina, in the last quarter of the 19th century. The study analyzes how these women, mistress and slaves, faced, from their social place, the rules of a patriarchal structure that legally dominated their lives and destinies. The first woman this story presents was Anna Francisca da Costa e Silva, a well-placed lady in the society of her time; Provider and administrator of the residence, where she lived in the company of four slaves and two
children, Rosa and Maria Benedicta, daughters, respectively, of Eva and Benedita, the two characters who play the second story presented and that deals with the expectations that animated these two women. to petition in court for the custody of their youngest daughters, guarded by Anna Francisca's executor, as a result of their death.