Deolinda Rodrigues Francisco de Almeida (''
nom de guerre
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
'', Langidila;
honorary title, "Mother of the Revolution"; 10 February 1939 – 2 March 1967) was an Angolan nationalist, militant, writer, and translator, who also taught, wrote poetry, and worked as a radio host. Born into a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
family, she received a scholarship to study in Brazil, from where she corresponded with
Martin Luther King Jr. Fearing extradition, she continued her education in the United States before returning to Angola. Rodrigues was a member of the
People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social de ...
(MPLA) and co-founded its women's wing, the Organização da Mulher de Angola (
Organization of Angolan Women
The Organization of Angolan Women (Portuguese: Organização Mulher Angolana (OMA)) is a political organisation in Angola, which was founded in 1962 to target women to support the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola. It was co-founded ...
; OMA). She was captured, tortured, and executed by a rival nationalist group in 1967. A documentary of her life was released in 2014.
Early life and education
Deolinda Rodrigues Francisco de Almeida was born in
Catete, Angola, on 10 February 1939. Her Methodist parents were schoolteachers, and she was a middle child, with four other siblings, including a brother, Roberto de Almeida.
She moved to
Luanda
Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...
and lived with her cousin, the poet
Agostinho Neto
António Agostinho da Silva Neto (17 September 1922 – 10 September 1979) was an Angolan politician and poet. He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, having led the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) i ...
, who went on to become the
first president of Angola.
Though she was educated in the Methodist Missionary schools and taught writing and translating while a young girl, by the late 1950s, she had begun to question the
paternal attitude of both the government and the church.
In 1956, Rodrigues joined the MPLA as a translator. While a sociology student on scholarship at
Methodist University of São Paulo
The Universidade Metodista de São Paulo (Methodist University of São Paulo), also known as UMESP or simply Metodista, is a private university based in the city of São Bernardo do Campo, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.
Metodista currently e ...
in 1959, she exchanged correspondence with
Martin Luther King Jr. Fearing she would be extradited from Brazil because of the
Portuguese Imperial relationship between its colonies and her support of the growing
Angolan Independence movement, Rodrigues moved to the United States the following year and studied at
Drew University. Because she wanted to be an active participant in Angola's independence, Rodríguez returned to Angola without finishing her studies.
Career
In February 1961, she was recruited to participate in the MPLA attack on
"Fortalesa", later gaining the honorary title of "Mother of the Revolution". Rodrigues traveled to
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...
and
Congo Kinshasa, where she co-founded the Organização da Mulher de Angola (Organization of Angolan Women; OMA), the women's division of the MPLA. She received guerrilla training in
Kabinda, and joined the Esquadrão Kamy. She returned to Angola in 1962. As a revolutionary movement leader and activist, she campaigned for human rights in Angola, and was associated with the Corpo Voluntário Angolano de Assistência aos Refugiados (CVAAR). In 1963, the government expelled the MPLA leadership, forcing them to flee to
Brazzaville
Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLI ...
.
Her writings from the time show an increasing move towards
Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various co ...
and a painful awareness that her womanhood made her invisible even though she was part of the leadership. She expressed her frustration at the discrimination she faced for her lack of domesticity, saying that she was treated as if being single was "shameful or of the devil".
Pushed out of Brazzaville, the MPLA moved to the border with
Cabinda in 1966, where fighting intensified over the next two years.
Death and legacy
Rodrigues and four other OMA members (Engracia dos Santos, Irene Cohen, Lucrecia Paim, and Teresa Afonso) were captured by the União dos Povos de Angola (UPA) guerrilla group (later,
National Liberation Front of Angola
The National Front for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; abbreviated FNLA) is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the war of independenc ...
) on 2 March 1967. They were tortured and dismembered alive.
Taken to the
FNLA camp,
Kinkuzu, in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
, Rodrigues was executed in prison.
Posthumously, her diary was published in 2003 under the title ''Diário de um exilio sem regresso'' and her letters and correspondence were published in 2004 as ''Cartas de Langidila e outros documentos''.
In 2010, a documentary of her life was begun. Filmed in Angola, Brazil and Mozambique, the film interviews associates and incorporates text from Rodrigues's diaries. It took four years for the documentary to reach completion. ''Langidila—diário de um exílio sem regresso'' (Langidila—Diary of an exile without return) was released in 2014 and gives the story of the independence of Angola from the perspective of Rodrigues and her companions.
In 2011, Marcia Hinds Gleckler, who had served in the Methodist Missionary Movement in the 1950s, wrote an on-line memoir and book entitled ''Dear Deolinda'' of their time together, her recollections and reflections of the era.
Selected works
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*
See also
*
Congo Crisis
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
* Alfieri, N. (2021). "Deolinda Rodrigues: between historical and biographical writing. Reception of an Angolan fighter and intellectual". ''Abriu: Estudos De Textualidade Do Brasil, Galicia E Portugal'', (10), 39–57. https://doi.org/10.1344./abriu2021.10.2
External links
''Dear Deolinda''Correspondence between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Deolinda Rodriguesat
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodrigues de Almeida, Deolinda
1939 births
1968 deaths
20th-century Angolan poets
20th-century women writers
20th-century letter writers
Drew University alumni
MPLA politicians
People from Luanda Province
Angolan independence activists
Angolan women activists
Executed revolutionaries
Angolan women poets
Torture victims
Women letter writers
African women in war
Methodist University of São Paulo alumni
Organization founders
Women founders
Violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo