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Women and Independence in Latin America An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence |
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Women and Independence in Latin America An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence |
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Gender:Female
Ethnic origen: White
Events:
| 1820-1822 | - | Rio de Janeiro | - | Unknown | - | She was born in Rio de Janeiro between 1820 and 1822. |
| 1838 | - | Rio de Janeiro | - | Unknown | - | She died suddenly at the age of eighteen (or younger) in 1838. |
Connections:
Women writers in BrazilBiography:
Born in Rio de Janeiro between 1820 and 1822, Gracia Ermelinda da Cunha Mattos was the daughter of Raymundo José da Cunha Mattos and Maria Venancia Fontes Pereira de Mello. She is said to have had a precocious intellect, fostered by her devoted father. She applied herself to philosophy and history from an early age, which earned her the nickname “a philosophinha”. Sabino suggests that a book of her philosophical thoughts was published (Sabino, 242), but Blake cites only the following appearances in periodicals and an anthology:
“Coleção de sentenças philosophicas, offerecidas às meninas brasileiras”, Pharol do Imperio, March 1837; Revista do Instituto Historico, 1839 and “Maximas e phrases”, in J. Norberto de Sousa e Santos, Archivo Popular, vol. II, pp. 130 and 134 (Blake, 186).
Mattos also worked as a secretary to her devoted father, who wrote and published extensively (Blake, 186). She died suddenly at the age of eighteen (or younger) in 1838.
References:
Blake, A V A Sacramento (1895) Diccionario Bibliographico Brazileiro
Sabino, Ignez (1899) Mulheres Illustres do Brazil
Silva, Joaquim Norberto de Sousa e (1862) Brasileiras Celebres