ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the enslaved people of Brazil during last official year of African slavery, which was abolished in 1888 with the Lei Aurea. Almost two decades before, the Brazilian Government passed Lei do Ventre Livre which proclaimed that every child who was born after that day would be free. The chapter details the condition of Black lives at the Parish Nossa Senhora do Pillar, Rio de Janeiro, during a specific period of Brazilian history. It shows how African people lived during the last years of slavery in Brazil in order to contribute to the understanding of how much the post-Abolition period impacted the lives of Brazilians of African descent. Godparents have always compensated for the absence of one member of the family, usually the father. Godparenting was an important strategy to access the family's resources. The family was the main space of slave autonomy, which godparenting ensured, leading to greater social mobility.
