In the 18th century, in colonial Brazil, a Black woman born into slavery defied every rule written against her.
Born around 1732 in São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Xica da Silva was the daughter of a Portuguese father and an African mother, likely from the Bantu or Yoruba ethnic groups. At a young age, she was captured and sold into slavery, along with her sister, and brought to the diamond mines of Minas Gerais. Her early life as a slave was marked by hardship and exploitation, but it was during this period that she acquired the skills and knowledge that would later become crucial to her rise to prominence. xica da silva