For Roque, the consequences of these beliefs would allegedly become central to his life.
The Purchase That Changed His Future
Traditional accounts place an important turning point around 1849, when Roque was approximately twenty-two years old.
He is said to have been purchased in Sorocaba by Francisco da Cunha Bueno, the landowner associated with the estate that would become known as Fazenda Santa Eudóxia.
Some later retellings identify this landowner by his noble title, the Viscount of Cunha Bueno.
The specific circumstances of the purchase are not established in the sources available, and dramatic descriptions of conversations or negotiations should be understood as narrative reconstructions rather than documented testimony.
Nevertheless, the broader claim remains central to Roque's remembered story.
He was reportedly acquired because his physical characteristics were thought to make him particularly valuable for reproduction.
A wealthy slaveholder looking at an enslaved young man could see much more than immediate labor.
