SYNOPSIS

 Xica da Silva is a Brazilian telenovela produced and broadcast by Rede Manchete from September 17, 1996 to August 11, 1997, in 231 chapters replacing Tocaia Grande and being replaced by Mandacaru. Written by Walcyr Carrasco (under the pseudonym Adamo Angel), with the collaboration of José Carvalho,[1] it was directed by João Camargo and Jaques Lagoa, J. Alcântara, Lizâneas Azevedo and Walter Avancini, who was also the general director of plot. Xica da Silva was the only soap opera whose protagonists are based on real people and events: Francisca da Silva de Oliveira actually lived in Arraial do Tijuco, today Diamantina, in the 18th century. Her life has already been romanticized by Agripa Vasconcelos in the book Chica que Manda and also through the film by Cacá Diegues, which has the same name as the novel, in 1976. All this made Taís Araújo the first black protagonist in a novel, in the history of Brazilian television.

It had Taís Araújo, Victor Wagner, Drica Moraes, Giovanna Antonelli, Murilo Rosa, Carla Regina and Guilherme Piva in the main roles of the plot. Xica da Silva was elected by the Spanish newspaper 20 minutes as the 6th best Brazilian telenovela of all time.