The variety of possibilities as well as the high frequency of manumissions contributed to the creation of an important number of free blacks in the Portuguese America. Despite their free condition, however, these former slaves had to face a variety of different challenges in their daily lives in colonial society. The purpose of this article is to discuss the threats and constrains of their lives as free people of color, and to analyze how these obstacles limited or prevented them from the enjoyment of freedom.
Manumission; freedom; social condition