Celina Guimarães Viana ( Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, 15 November 1890 - Belo Horizonte, 11 July 1972) was a Brazilian professor and

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

. She was the first women to vote in Brazil. She did so on 5 April 1928 in the city of

Mossoró Mossoró () is the second most populous city in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, and also the largest municipality of that state. It is equidistant (four hours' drive) from Natal (approximately 277 km or 172 miles), the state capi ...

. She was the daughter of Joseph Eustachian Amorim Guimarães and Eliza Amorim Guimarães. She studied at the Normal School of Natal, where she completed the course in teacher training. It was at this same school that she met Elyseu de Oliveira Viana, a young student from Pirpirituba, whom she married in December 1911. In 1912, she went to

Acari Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

and on 13 January 1914, moved to Mossoro. With the enactment of Law No. 660 of 25 October 1927,

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", re ...

became the first state that, in regulating the "Electoral Service in the State," established that there would be no more "distinction of sex" for the exercise of suffrage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guimaraes Viana, Celina 1890 births 1972 deaths People from Natal, Rio Grande do Norte 20th-century Brazilian educators Brazilian suffragists Brazilian women educators