LITTLE AFRICAS

The only known first-person statement by Tia Ciata can be found in a police report published in Jornal do Brasil. On April 13, 1901, Hilária Pereira Ernesto, the legal name also attributed to Tia Ciata, spoke to the newspaper about her brother Elizário, who had murdered his wife following a tumultuous separation. Tia Ciata’s first address at 304 Rua da Alfândega, in the vicinity of Pequena África, is listed in the news article. When she died, she was already living on Visconde de Itaúna, one of the four streets bordering Praça Onze, in the house that became famous.