Signares DBQ - 10/31/23

Document 2 In 1823, the signare Sophie Merée initiated legal proceedings against her neighbor, a man that documents referred to simply as ‘Monsieur Baudin.’ Baudin had made the customary renovation of his home by replacing the straw fence that separate the two properties with a plastered stone wall. Once the wall was built, Merée complained to the authorities that Baudin had augmented his property, and thereby reduced hers, by three feet.

Document 4 The unidentified woman who mediated with the Papel ruler José was probably the nhara* Māe Júlia da Silva Cardoso, who for many years was Joaquim António de Mattos’s partner in commerce… Speculatively, she was raised as a ward or domestic slave in the household of the wealthy Cabo Verdean trader José da Silva Cardoso… When and in what circumstances Māe Júlia and Joaquim António de Mattos became partners is not known. The couple had at least four children: a son and three daughters.

Document 6 It ‘was marvelous,’ [Thompson] wrote, ‘to see how the Gorée damsels kept up the dance in a sultry night and in a small room just able to contain the dancers.’ When not dancing, the ladies moved with the ‘easy languishing pace’ of the chameleon when fly-catching. ‘exactly this languor adorns the beauteous mulattoes; they speak to you in a drawling tone without looking at you, and then cast one sleepy glance out of the corner of their long silky eyelashes to see if you have been listening.