“Escrava Mina” and “Escravo Mina” (1864)

“Escrava Mina” and “Escravo Mina” (1864)

AP African American Studies Guide

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Topic 2.16

José Christiano de Freitas Henriques Jr., “Escravo Mina” and “Escrava Mina” (1864)

A sepia portrait of a Black man bearing ceremonial scars.

Escravo (“Enslaved man”) Mina

A sepia portrait of a Black woman bearing ceremonial scars.

Escrava (“Enslaved woman”) Mina

The subjects’ names, places of birth, and times of arrival in Brazil were not recorded. However, the scarifications on both subjects suggest Oyo affiliation, and it is conceivable that these individuals arrived in Brazil as children in the late-1820s and early 1830s, suggesting they were present during Oyo’s collapse in the 1830s[1]. The term “mina” identifies them as mine workers.

  1. This text is adapted from SlaveryImages.org.

Source: Both photographs, Escravo (“Enslaved man”) and Escrava (“Enslaved woman”) Mina, were taken by José Christiano de Freitas Henriques Jr. [also known as Christiano Junior] in 1864 in Brazil. (Museu Histórico Nacional, Brazil)