Author Júnia Ferreira Furtado was able to successfully “free” Chica of the stereotypes and myths that have overshadowed the true story of who she was and the inspirational and courageous woman she became throughout her lifetime. Chica’s life story has been portrayed in books, songs, and movies, and to this day is a significant part of Brazil’s history. The author of the book disagrees with the common depiction of Chica as a seductress who utilized her African heritage and sexuality to her benefit in order to achieve certain things she wanted and better her status in the society she lived in. The author also opposes the various works that use Chica’s life story as an example to support the simplistic and stereotypical view of racial interactions in Brazil that put unnecessary focus on the idea that only a handful of Africans experienced and enjoyed the possibility of social integration.…show more content… Chica da Silva successfully shows the challenges black women and their descendants confronted in colonial slave societies, in addition to the strategies they used to overcome the limitations that gender and racial discrimination inflicted on their opportunities for social and economic improvement. Furtado argues that Chica and her descendants’ path to economic improvement and social mobility, similar to those of other persons of African descent, was “paradoxical,”