{"id":451957,"date":"2022-09-19T19:54:06","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T22:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=451957"},"modified":"2022-09-23T14:32:47","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T17:32:47","slug":"unafraid-to-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/unafraid-to-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Unafraid to fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 13, 1822, a group of 186 women sent Maria Leopoldina (1797\u20131826) the Letter from the Bahian women to Her Royal Highness Dona Leopoldina, congratulating her on her role in the patriotic rulings of her husband, Prince Regent Dom Pedro<\/em>. The document acknowledged the contribution made by the then princess and future empress to ensuring her husband\u2019s permanence in Brazil, which they believed was a key factor in gaining independence from Portugal. \u201cFar more than just a letter, it is a political manifesto,\u201d notes historian Maria de Lourdes Viana Lyra, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and author of books such as A utopia do poderoso imp\u00e9rio. <\/em>Portugal e Brasil: Bastidores da pol\u00edtica, 1798\u20131822 <\/em>(The utopia of the mighty empire. Portugal and Brazil: A behind-the-scenes look at politics, 1798\u20131822; Sette Letras, 1994). \u201cAt that time, in Brazil, women were given a subordinate role restricted to private household and family affairs. Outwardly, women were made invisible, but that did not stop them from mobilizing politically to fight for independence in a variety of ways,\u201d she states. In an article on the subject, Lyra calls attention to the fact that, in addition to isolated actions led by famous figures such as Leopoldina herself, there were other \u201cmuch more significant\u201d actions that are still largely unknown to the general public. More specifically, collective mobilizations of women active in the public arena during the fight for Brazil\u2019s independence. Historian Andr\u00e9a Slemian, of the Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (UNIFESP), agrees and expands on the matter. \u201cThroughout this process, many women expressed themselves through letters, manifestos, and other texts. Thus, the nascent press in Brazil played an important role, not only by publishing these women\u2019s ideas regarding independence on the newspaper\u2019s editorial page, for example, but also by serving as a mouthpiece to support matters related to women\u2019s rights,\u201d notes Slemian, who has spent nearly 20 years studying the Portuguese colonization of the Americas and Brazil between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.<\/p>\n

The mobilization of women was far from novel in Brazil, according to Lyra. \u201cThere are records of women\u2019s movements in Pernambuco in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, for example. When the Dutch invaded Brazil, a landowner was arrested and a group of women asked the governor, Jo\u00e3o Maur\u00edcio de Nassau [1604\u201379], to intervene and release the prisoner,\u201d she recounts. During the fight for independence, however, this behavior intensified in the revolutionary tide. \u201cWomen actively participated in the French Revolution [1789\u201399], which resulted in the Declaration of the rights of woman and of the female citizen <\/em>[1791]. This movement impacted society at the time in different parts of the world to varying degrees,\u201d says Lyra.<\/p>\n

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New York Public Library<\/span>Illustration of the Women\u2019s March on Versailles, during the French RevolutionNew York Public Library<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Women\u2019s participation in Brazil\u2019s independence was not restricted to the written word. \u201cThere were women who looked after properties and businesses and who followed what was happening in the public arena,\u201d recalls Slemian. Such is the case of plantation owner B\u00e1rbara Pereira de Alencar (1760\u20131832), who took part in the Pernambucan Revolution of 1817 in Cear\u00e1, Brazil. \u201cThe province of Pernambuco was required to pay large monthly sums to the Portuguese royal court who had lived in Rio de Janeiro since 1808. In addition, the presence of the royal court inflated prices in the province. All these factors gave rise to widespread discontent from the elite to the working class, thus triggering the revolution,\u201d recounts historian Flavio Jos\u00e9 Gomes Cabral, of the Catholic University of Pernambuco (UNICAP), who is writing a book on the event. \u201cThe uprising began in Pernambuco and extended to Cear\u00e1, Rio Grande do Norte, and Para\u00edba.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Pernambuco, Alencar moved to Cear\u00e1 after her marriage, where, once widowed, she took over the Pau Seco sugar cane mill, in the Crato region. \u201cOn her mother\u2019s side, she was of indigenous descent and, on her father\u2019s side, Portuguese,\u201d says Cabral. Two of her children attended the Episcopal Seminary of Nossa Senhora da Gra\u00e7a de Olinda, within the Diocese of Pernambuco, the province\u2019s embattled revolutionary nucleus. One of her children was Jos\u00e9 Martiniano Pereira de Alencar (1794\u20131860), who would later become the father of novelist Jos\u00e9 de Alencar (1829\u20131877). \u201cWith his mother\u2019s support, Jos\u00e9 Martiniano disseminated his ideas within the Crato region. He was in favor of the revolution and mainly organized meetings that attracted relatives and family friends,\u201d adds the researcher.<\/p>\n

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Brazilian National Library\u2002<\/span>Book about the life of B\u00e1rbara de AlencarBrazilian National Library\u2002<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

While the revolution was unraveling, B\u00e1rbara de Alencar was arrested on June 13, 1817, and taken to the city of Fortaleza. \u201cBefore her departure, she was subjected to public shaming in the streets of Crato,\u201d recounts Cabral. She regained her freedom nearly three years later, in November of 1820, after serving her sentence in Recife and Salvador. \u201cB\u00e1rbara de Alencar\u2019s story is still not well known,\u201d notes Lyra. One reason for this, according to the expert, is that throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Brazilian historiography related to Brazil\u2019s Independence focused on September 7, 1822, and the movements led by men in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

According to Slemian, the last two decades have revealed a change in this scenario, with Brazilian universities developing curriculum centered around diversity. \u201cBut there is still a lot to be researched,\u201d he states. One of the major difficulties hindering the development of new research involves original official sources, according to S\u00e9rgio Armando Diniz Guerra Filho, of the Federal University of Rec\u00f4ncavo da Bahia (UFRB). \u201cThese documents were written by white, upper-class men and generally dismiss the participation of other segments of society, such as the poor, women, Black and Indigenous people,\u201d says the historian, whose master\u2019s thesis centered on the role of grassroots participation in the Brazilian War of Independence in Bahia (1822\u20131823).<\/p>\n

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Cole\u00e7\u00e3o Anne S. K. Brown, Brown University, Providence<\/span>Portrait of Maria Quit\u00e9ria de Jesus (1792-1853)Cole\u00e7\u00e3o Anne S. K. Brown, Brown University, Providence<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

However, traces of women\u2019s presence can be seen in mass demonstrations, sustains the scholar. \u201cSince the nineteenth century, parades for Bahia\u2019s Independence Day, celebrated on July 2, honor the Caboclo figure. These symbols of grassroots participation in the war against the Portuguese are often female, as is the case in the town of Santo Amaro da Purifica\u00e7\u00e3o,\u201d describes Guerra Filho. Another indication of women\u2019s involvement can be seen in the parade known as \u201cCareta do Mingau,\u201d which in July takes over the streets of Saubara, also in the Rec\u00f4ncavo region of Bahia. \u201cWomen cover themselves in sheets in remembrance of the compatriots who used to dress up as ghosts to bring food to entrenched combatants at dawn. Preparing food and mending uniforms, as well as caring for the injured in the infirmary, are other ways that women participated in the fight for independence,\u201d says the researcher.<\/p>\n

However, not all women were in the rearguard, as demonstrated by Maria Quit\u00e9ria de Jesus (c. 1792\u20131853), who disguised herself as a man and adopted the nickname \u201cSoldier Medeiros\u201d to fight the Portuguese in Bahia. \u201cShe was recognized among the troops for her marksmanship, and her real identity was only revealed when her father showed up to retrieve her from Cachoeira, the then provisional capital of Bahia. Quit\u00e9ria refused to return home and continued fighting,\u201d says Guerra Filho. In 1823, Pedro I appointed the combatant a Knight of the Imperial Order of the Cross, in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

The image of Maria Quit\u00e9ria as a heroine of the War of Independence took hold at the beginning of the nineteenth century, notes the art historian Nathan Gomes in his master\u2019s thesis \u201cTheater of memory, theater of war: Maria Quit\u00e9ria de Jesus in the construction of national imaginary (1823\u20131979).\u201d Defended in April, at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Brazilian Studies Institute (IEB-USP), this study was supported by FAPESP. According to Gomes, the Bahian woman\u2019s story gained prominence when it was recounted in the book Journal of a voyage to Brazil and residence there during parts of the years 1821, 1822 and 1823. <\/em>The book consisted of a travel report recorded by the English artist and writer Maria Graham (1785\u20131842) who, among other activities, worked as a governess for Pedro I and Leopoldina\u2019s children in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

Released in 1824 by the British publisher Longman & Co., the publication also featured a portrait of the Bahian woman created by English painters Augustus Earle (1793\u20131838) and Denis Dighton (1792\u20131827), in addition to the engraver Edward Finden (1791\u20131857), as credited in the thesis. \u201cIt is a full-body portrait, with Quit\u00e9ria wearing a petticoat over her uniform. This was the image of her that stuck,\u201d noted Gomes. Between 1840 and 1930, a series of actions developed mainly by the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute (IHGB), the Geographical and Historical Institute of Bahia (IGHB), and the Paulista Museum (MP) contributed to ensuring her fame remains part of the nation\u2019s collective memory. \u201cHer consecration reached a pinnacle during the Independence Centennial Exposition in 1922,\u201d states the researcher. At the time, the Paulista Museum, which now belongs to USP, displayed a portrait of Maria Quit\u00e9ria in its Noble Room. The portrait was painted in 1920 by Italian artist Domenico Failutti (1872\u20131923) and was featured alongside paintings such as Independence or death! <\/em>(1888) by Pedro Am\u00e9rico (1843\u20131905).<\/p>\n

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Ipac<\/span>Careta do Mingau parade, a demonstration that references the role of women in gaining independence, in BahiaIpac<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The process of appropriating Maria Quit\u00e9ria\u2019s image evolved over time, as the study shows. In 1953, one hundred years after her death, the first biography of the Bahian officer was published. The book, which romanticizes her life, was written by Manuel Pereira Reis J\u00fanior, a Bahian historian in charge of the centennial commemoration event. That same year, the Brazilian Army required that the combatant\u2019s portrait be hung in its offices and created the Maria Quit\u00e9ria commendation. Much later, in 1996, she would become the Patron of the Corps of Support Staff Officers of the Brazilian Army. \u201cIn the 1980s, the Brazilian Army began accepting female officers,\u201d adds Gomes. The research project extends to the 1970s, when the Women\u2019s Movement for Amnesty (MFPA) used Maria Quit\u00e9ria\u2019s image as a symbol against authoritarianism in the military dictatorship (1964\u20131985). Created in 1975 by a group of women from S\u00e3o Paulo, the MFPA quickly spread across the country. Spearheading the initiative was homemaker and activist Therezinha Zerbini (1928\u20132015) whose husband, a serviceman, was removed from duty by the coup d\u2019\u00e9tat. \u201cTherezinha had long been fighting the dictatorship. She helped organize the clandestine conference of the National Students Union (UNE) held in Ibi\u00fana, S\u00e3o Paulo, in 1968, for example,\u201d recounts Gomes.<\/p>\n

The MFPA\u2019s decision to use Maria Quit\u00e9ria as a symbol was part of a deliberate strategy by the movement to associate itself with a figure already integrated into the pantheon of the Armed Forces, but whose significance extended beyond the military sphere. For example, she could represent defending women\u2019s participation in politics,\u201d Gomes points out. \u201cThey believed that, in doing so, they could act with more volition.\u201d The strategy worked only partially. In 1977, the first edition of the Maria Quit\u00e9ria<\/em> newsletter, in addition to posters and pamphlets featuring her image, were seized by the National Information Service (SNI), which also used a photographer to infiltrate the movement at a demonstration it participated in that year in Salvador.<\/p>\n

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Nypl<\/span>Portrait of Maria Leopoldina by an unknown authorNypl<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Moderate alternative
\n<\/strong>In the Paulista Museum\u2019s Noble Hall, which houses Maria Quit\u00e9ria\u2019s portrait, there is a canvas honoring Empress Leopoldina, also painted by Failutti in the 1920s. \u201cBorn in Vienna, Leopoldina was the daughter of Francisco II, Emperor of Austria, and was educated to eventually rule. Upon marrying the Crown Prince of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves, future Emperor Dom Pedro I, she moved to Brazil with the belief that strengthening the monarchy in the tropics would be beneficial for maintaining absolutism, which had been failing in Europe since the French Revolution,\u201d says Lyra, of UFRJ, and author of the Austrian woman\u2019s biography that is part of the book Rainhas de Portugal no novo mundo: Carlota Joaquina, Leopoldina de Habsburgo <\/em>(Queens of Portugal in the new world: Carlota Joaquina, Leopoldina of Habsburg), published by the Portuguese publisher C\u00edrculo de Leitores, in 2011.<\/p>\n

According to Slemian, Leopoldina became politically active in the Portuguese royal court mainly in the early 1820s. \u201cShe played an important role in the process of gaining independence, which she exercised with extreme rationality, much more prudently than her husband,\u201d notes the expert, author of the entry about Leopoldina in Dicion\u00e1rio da Independ\u00eancia: Hist\u00f3ria, mem\u00f3ria e historiografia (Dictionary of Independence: History, memory, and historiography)<\/em>, to be released in the second half of this year. \u201cHowever, her actions cannot be misrepresented. Leopoldina was conservative, terrified of social upheaval, and she fought for a moderate alternative to independence, while keeping the prince on the throne. This was, ultimately, what took shape in 1822,\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n

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