Meet Xica Manicongo; Brazil's first transvestite inspires Tuiuti's plot

The history of Xica Manicongo, considered the first non-indigenous transvestite in Brazil will be honored by the plot of Tuiuti Paradise at Carnival 2025.

The samba school announced this Friday (5) the choice of the samba-plot “Who’s afraid of Xica Manicongo?” to take to the avenue next year.

The announcement was applauded by federal deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP), the first transsexual elected to the National Congress alongside Duda Salabert (PDT-MG), in 2022.

“Xica had her history erased for centuries, and the rescue of her memory is also the strengthening of LGBTQIA+ people in the face of those who, to this day, want to see us burned,” celebrated the deputy.

Discover the story of Xica Manicongo, considered the first transvestite in Brazil

Xica was brought from Congo to be enslaved in Salvador in the 16th century and refused to wear clothes linked to the male wardrobe of the time.

Documented as a homosexual man, the African woman had her story reread and was classified as a transvestite only in the 2000s, by black activist Majorie Marchi. Since then, Manicongo has been embraced by the transvestite and transsexual community as a symbol of resistance.

She worked as a shoemaker in the capital of Bahia and, as her clothes and manners were not considered suitable for a man, she was accused of sodomy and being part of a gang of sodomite sorcerers.

After being denounced, Xica was tried by the Court of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, an institution of the Catholic Church responsible for punishing crimes of heresy, and sentenced to the penalty of being burned alive in a public square and having her descendants dishonored until the third generation.

In an attempt to escape the penalty imposed by the Church, Xica abdicated her female identity and began to dress and behave like a man of the time.



Source: CNN Brasil

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