Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine a few case studies from the judicial district of Sabará, in Minas Gerais, to explore how widows of African descent challenged legal restrictions that threatened their ownership and management of land and, in the process, contributed to the growth of the local economy.

Paper long abstract:

Portuguese inheritance laws protected wives' right to half of a couple's property in eighteenth-century Minas Gerais. Still, a husband's death often threatened the dissolution of the family estate to an extent where ownership of the meação (the spouse's half) could not ensure the family's livelihood and well-being. Moreover, women of African descent were often denied guardianship of their children and, consequently, control of their inheritance, which were placed instead in the hands of court appointed guardians. Given the potential constraints legal procedures imposed on these women, some African descendant and mixed-raced couples engaged in "vendas de meação" (sales of a spouse's half), which ensured the widow would remain in possession of the entire family estate after her husband's death. This practice protected women from the interference of the courts in matters of family and property and proved to be an effective strategy to secure ownership and the productivity of their agricultural and mineral lands. This paper will examine a few case studies from the judicial district of Sabará, in Minas Gerais, to explore how widows of African descent challenged legal restrictions that threatened their ownership and management of land and, in the process, contributed to the growth of the local economy.