Slavery During World War II

Since February is Black History month I decided to do some digging in the history of my own family, since as being Hispanic I am partially of black descent. I grew up in South America, and being dark skinned (on the light side), taught me to see things in a different light.

My grandmother Angelina was born in the early 1930's on a farm, just like her mother Anna. Anna was a free woman born from a slave mother. As an American reader you may be asking yourself, how is that possible? In Brazil, they passed a law in 1871 stating that all children born of slave mothers would be born free and were to be raised by their mother's masters until the age of 18. In 1888 Brazil abolished slavery all together, but unlike in the United States, the now freeman, did not receive 40 acres of land and a mule, they received nothing. Most of them stayed and worked in the farms in exchange for food and shelter and did not receive wages or even a portion of the crop to be sold to earn money.

Anna passed away when Angelina was very young and Angelina's father Jose felt like Angelina deserved to be educated and become a better person, so he brought her to the city and "gave" her to a family for them to raise her. It's hard to believe that even in the early 1940's black people in Brazil still thought of themselves as property. Angelina became this family's maid at age 7. The schooling she got was in front of the sink, stove, washboard or with a broom in her hand, and if she made a mistake she was punished severely with paddles, belts, etc. During this time she did not earn wages, she was still treated like a piece of property, not much different than her grandmother. She was only able to leave this situation by marriage.

But this story does have a happy ending. Angelina gave birth to Gloria, my mother. Angelina made sure Gloria had all the options she didn't have, and Gloria attended college and even got a Masters degree. She owned two houses, one in the suburbs and one in the mountains at the time of her passing. She was also able to give her two daughters a great education.