Francisca Sebastiana de Araujo

Gender:Female

Ethnic origen: Black

Events:

1812  -  Montevideo  -  Unknown  -  She was captured by the Buenos Aires patriots here during the second siege.
1815  -  Bogotá  -  Patriot  -  She obtained her freedom and accompanied the patriot troops.
1815  -  Santa Fe  -  Unknown  -  She accompanied her lover/owner here in 1815.
1820  -  Buenos Aires  -  Unknown  -  She petitioned the Buenos Aires courts for her freedom in March 1820.

Connections:

Battle of Sipe-Sipe
Slave women who used independence to gain freedom
Women accompanied husbands/ brothers into battle
Women, used legal system

Biography:
A slave woman from Montevideo, who was captured by the Buenos Aires forces during the siege of 1812 and 1814. She was bought by moreno Lieutenant Antonio Parobio for 150 pesos and she served him during the siege. She then went with him to Santa Fe where she was freed in 1815 after they became lovers. She stayed with Parobio and the patriot troops and was present at the battle of Sipe-Sipe in November 1815 that the patriots lost. Her papers were lost in the resulting chaos, but they were replaced by Martín Güemes in Salta. She returned to Buenos Aires where Parobio's wife learned of her affair, tried to end the relationship and return Araujo into slavery. Araujo went to the courts and in March 1820 demanded her freedom "for the services and sacrifices she had made for Parobio in the campaigns of the Banda Oriental and [Upper] Peru". (Blanchard, 5)

References:

Blanchard, Peter (2004) Freedom and Family: Slave Women and the Wars of Independence in South America