Hidden Figures: Carolina Maria de Jesus (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Carolina Maria de Jesus

Carolina Maria de Jesus was born in Minas Gerais, a rural community where her parents were sharecroppers. When Carolina reached the age of seven, her mother forced her to attend school after a wealthy landowner's wife paid for her, as well as other poor black children in the neighborhood. She stopped attending school by the second grade, though she went long enough to learn how to read and write. In 1937, her mother died, and Carolina was forced to migrate to the metropolis of São Paulo. She made her own house out of used plywood, cans, cardboard, and anything else she could find. She would go out every night to collect paper in order to get money to support the family, and would sell what she had collected, then go to the store and buy what little food that she could with the money. She would also find journals and old notebooks, in which she began to record her day-to-day activities and about her life in the favela. Unlike many black women in that time and place, Carolina celebrated her race; she thought her skin and hair were beautiful. In her diary, she details the daily life of the favelados, and bluntly describes the political and social facts which order their lives. She writes of how poverty and desperation can cause people of high moral character to compromise their principles and dishonor themselves simply to get food for themselves and their families. In August 1960 Carolina Maria De Jesus' diary was published, after she was discovered by journalist Audalio Dantas in April 1958. Carolina's story "electrified the town," and in 1960, Quarto de Despejo (The Garbage Place), was published. It became the most successful book in Brazilian publishing history. Although written in the simple language of a favelada, her diary was translated into thirteen languages and became a bestseller in North America and Europe. It was published in the United States and the UK as Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus, in 1962. Carolina Maria De Jesus' diary detailed the grim reality of her life as well as that around her, and as such, raised awareness of the favelas' conditions. Local politicians wanted to meet with Carolina and discuss some of her points. The governor of São Paulo, Prestes Maia, tried to begin the involvement of agencies to create poor relief. Most of these projects were dedicated to teach women how to sew, care properly of their children and teach good hygiene. One of the characteristics differentiating Carolina Maria de Jesus from her neighbors in the Canindé favela was her unique perspective of life. Although living among the lowest classes of society, Carolina had dreams and aspirations like those who lived most comfortably in Brazil during the mid-1900s. She was a woman who believed that her dreams could be realized, and against great odds, many of them were. She created a paradigm and lived accordingly until she was finally able to move her family into the modest middle-class neighborhood of Alto de Santana in São Paulo. She died in Brazil in 1977. Child of the Dark was read extensively both in capitalist areas such as Western Europe and the United States, as well as in socialist bloc countries like Cuba, the wide range of audience suggesting how many people her story affected outside of Brazil. For the liberal and capitalist West, the book portrayed a cruel and corrupt system which had been reinforced by centuries of colonial ideals instilled on the people. As Brazilian historian Jose Carlos Sebe noted, "many foreign specialists in Brazil year after year used her translated diary in their classes”, which indicates her important role worldwide in providing one of the only primary direct factual accounts of what was going on in these favelas. Author Robert M. Levine describes how, "Carolina's words brought alive a slice of Latin American reality rarely acknowledged in traditional textbooks." #CarolinaMariadeJesus #HiddenFigures Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Twitter: @seren_sensei Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: Child of the Dark: The Diary Of Carolina Maria De Jesus https://www.amazon.com/Child-Dark-Diary-Carolina-Maria/dp/0451529103 'Carolina Maria de Jesus: Life in Favelas:' https://borgenproject.org/carolina-maria-de-jesus-life-favelas/ Carolina Maria de Jesus (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Maria_de_Jesus 3% (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3%25