Maria Lucília Estanco Louro (1922–2018) was a Portuguese pacifist and opponent of the authoritarian '' Estado Novo'' regime, who became known as a teacher and political activist.

Early life

Maria Lucília Estanco Louro was born in

Beja, Portugal Beja () is a city and a municipality in the Alentejo region, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 35,854, in an area of . The city proper had a population of 21,658 in 2001. The municipality is the capital of the Beja District. The present Mayor ...

on 27 January 1922, daughter of Albertina Emília Freire and Manuel Francisco Estanco Louro. She graduated in Historical-Philosophical Sciences from the Faculty of Letters of the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

in 1944. Her thesis, entitled "

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

seen in the light of

Characterology Characterology () is the academic study of character which was prominent in German-speaking countries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is considered an historic branch of personality psychology, which extended into psychoanaly ...

- Life and Work", sparked controversy as she was the first in the Faculty to write about Art, then considered then a poor relative of History.

Portuguese women’s peace association

Between 1940 and 1944 Louro was a member of the board of the Associação Feminina Portuguesa para la Paz (Portuguese women's peace association - AFPP) and its Secretary for three of those years. With

Cândida Ventura Cândida Ventura (30 June 1918, Maputo, Mozambique – 16 December 2015, Portimão, Portugal) was a political activist against the Portuguese '' Estado Novo'' regime and a political prisoner. She was the first woman to hold a leadership position ...

, a colleague from the Faculty of Arts of Lisbon, she collaborated in the mobilization of artists, writers, actors and poets to contribute to the work of the AFPP. She was part of a group that organized small packages with cigarettes and food that were sent to prisoners of war, in collaboration with ''Socorro Vermelho Internacional'' ( International Red Aid), an aid organization established by the Communist International.

Teaching

Obtaining teaching qualifications in 1948 Louro taught at high schools in Faro, Beja,

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old to ...

, Oeiras and

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. She made major contributions to the teacher movement that was trying to reform the outdated teaching methods supported by the ''Estado Novo''. Many of these discussions were, of necessity, held clandestinely. After the April 25, 1974

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

that overthrew the ''Estado Novo'', Louro joined with many other teachers to propose revisions to the teaching curriculum. Targeted at children in their 6th and 7th years at school, the teaching material was initially supported by the Ministry of Education. However, some of the teachers' ideas were deemed too revolutionary and were not published.

Later life

Although sympathetic to the communist cause from the 1940s, she did not join the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...

until the 1970s. She also then became a member of the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPCC). In the 1990s, she offered the Neo-realism Museum in Vila Franca de Xira a small collection (brochures, programs, etc.) on the organization of the AFPP. On her 90th birthday, Louro was honoured by Portugal's ''Não Apaguem a Memória'' movement (Don't erase the memory - NAM), which works to ensure that the events of the struggle against the ''Estado Novo'' are remembered. She died on 27 December 2018.

References

External links

Video of Maria Lucília Estanco Louro talking of her experiences (in Portuguese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Louro, Maria Lucília Estanco Portuguese anti-fascists Portuguese communists 1922 births People from Beja, Portugal 2018 deaths People from Lisbon University of Lisbon alumni