In the late 1860s, Luiz Gama, a self-taught lawyer and former slave, began using the Brazilian courts to secure the freedom of illegally enslaved people. Gama, who had been sold into slavery by his own father and escaped at age 18, exploited legal ambiguities in Brazilian law to argue that any enslaved person who had been brought into the country after a certain date should be free. Over his career, he helped liberate approximately 500 to 750 enslaved individuals through legal petitions, often facing threats and violence from slaveholders. Gama's work made him a leading figure in the Brazilian abolitionist movement and a symbol of resistance against racial injustice.

Luiz Gama is celebrated in Brazilian literature and poetry as a hero of the abolitionist cause. His life and legal battles have been the subject of plays, songs, and biographical works that highlight his brilliance and courage. Gama's writings, including his poems and legal arguments, are studied as examples of Afro-Brazilian literary and political expression, and his legacy continues to inspire contemporary poets and activists in Brazil.