The Brazilian Parliament passes a law that frees all children thereafter born to slaves, and all government-owned slaves.

The Rio Branco law, also known as the Law of Free Birth, named after its champion, prime minister José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco, was passed by the General Assembly of the Empire of Brazil on 28 September 1871. It was intended to grant freedom to all newborn children of slaves, and slaves of the state or crown. Political scientist Luis Schenoni, situates the law within a broader program of centralized state-building reforms under Rio Branco, whose government also established a state fund for the emancipation of enslaved adults. However, children of enslaved women in Brazil were obligated to serve their mother's owners until the age of 21, a condition that was often more or less that of slavery. The law did not define the exact legal status of enslaved women's wombs; this was negotiated by enslaved people afterwards, with women at the forefront.