An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Bárbara de Alencar

Gender:Female

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

Connections:

Biography:
Bárbara de Alencar was born in the interior of Pernambuco and lived in the town of Crato. She took part in the 1817 revolution in the North East, accompanying her brother Leonel Pereira de Alencar in his involvement in the uprising. She had three sons, the eldest of which was involved in the 1824 Confederation of the Equator revolt. She was arrested and imprisoned for her actions, remaining incarcerated until 1821 when a general amnesty was granted. Sabino refers to her as Brazil’s first female political prisoner (Sabino, 234). Oral tradition maintains that when captured by the opposition “an insolent man asked her why she had taken part in the war, and if it wasn’t, perhaps, so that she could be queen; scandalized, she replied that this was not so, for what she wanted was to be king.” (Nava, 175)

References:

Dias, Maria Odila Leite da Silva (1995) Power and everyday life: the lives of working women in nineteenth-century Brazil
Nava, Pedro (1972) Baú de Ossos: Memórias
Sabino, Ignez (1899) Mulheres Illustres do Brazil