Maria Tomásia Figueira Lima (6 December 1826 – 1902) was a Brazilian aristocrat and
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world.
The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...
.
[Schumaher, Schuma; Vital Brasil, Érico (2000). ''Dicionário Mulheres do Brasil: de 1500 até a atualidade'' (in Portuguese). Editora Zahar.] She was the cofounder of the Sociedade das Senhoras Libertadoras ou Cearenses Libertadoras, a group which was the first of its kind in the country that was formed and led exclusively by women.
Biography
Maria Tomásia Figueira was born 6 December 1826, in
Sobral, a municipality in the interior of
Ceará
Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...
.
She belonged to the traditional families Figueira de Melo, Xerez and Viriato de Medeiros.
Her parents were Ana Francisca Figueira de Melo and José Xerez Furna.
She moved to
Fortaleza
Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...
after marrying the
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world.
The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...
Francisco de Paula de Oliveira Lima.
[Goncalves Ferreira, Luzila (1999). ''Suaves amazonas: mulheres e abolição da escravatura no nordeste'' (in Portuguese). Ed. Universitária, UFPE. p. 236. .]
In 1882, together with twenty-two abolitionist women of prominent families,
including Elvira Pinho,
[de Novaes Marques, Teresa Cristina; Pereira de Melo, Hildete; Alveal Contreras, Edelmira del Carmen; Schumaher, Schuma; Pompeu, Fernanda. Abrealas: o feminismo na virada do século XIX/XX (in Portuguese). REDEH, Rede de Desenvolvimento Humano. p. 56. (in Spanish)] Francisca Nunes da Cruz, Carolina Cordeiro, Luduvina Borges, Eugênia Amaral, Jacinta Souto, Maria Teófilo Morais, Maria Nunes Façanha, Lina Bezerra and Joana Bezerra, among others,
[Girão, Raimundo (1984). Pequena história do Ceará (in Portuguese). Edições Universidade Federal do Ceará. p. 294.] Figueira participated in the founding of the Sociedade das Senhoras Libertadoras ou Cearenses Libertadoras. According to the Dicionário da escravidão negra no Brasil, it was installed on January 6, 1883 with the name Sociedade Abolicionista Feminina.
[Moura, Clóvis (2004). ''Dicionário da escravidão negra no Brasil'' (ein Portuguese). EdUSP. p. 434. .] Figueira served as president of the organization whose objective was to fight for the abolition of slavery.
[nacaofortaleza.com (ed.). "Maria Tomásia". Cabeça de negro (in Portuguese).][Secretaria de Cultura, Turismo e Desporto (1988). ''Da senzala para os salões'': (coletânea) (in Portuguese). Secretaria de Cultura, Turismo e Desporto. p. 219.] This group became the first of its kind in Brazil that was formed and led exclusively by women.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Figueira Lima, Maria Tomasia
1826 births
1902 deaths
Brazilian abolitionists
Brazilian founders
Brazilian nobility
Women founders
People from Sobral, Ceará