Maria Werneck de Castro

Maria Morais Werneck de Castro (Rio de Janeiro, 1909 - Rio de Janeiro, 1993) was a Brazilian lawyer, militant communist, and feminist.^[1]

Life

Castro was born on October 8, 1909^[2] in barrio Laranjeiras , the daughter of attorney Justo de Moraes and Herminia Cresta Mendes de Moraes. Her paternal grandfather was Luiz Mendes de Moraes [pt], who was Minister of War in 1909. In school, she studied law. She married the communist militant Luis Werneck de Castro, also a lawyer.^[3]

Castro was a communist activist who fought for women's suffrage rights, from 1930 onwards. She participated in the Federación Brasileña por el Progreso Femenino, and in the Liga Antifascista. Castro was a close friend of Luís Carlos Prestes and his sister, Clotilde Prestes, as well as a companion to Nise da Silveira and Olga Benário Prestes, the latter having been accused of being one of the leaders of the Communist Revolt of 1935.^[4] With Mary Mercio and Eugênia Álvaro Moreyra, she co-founded the União Feminina do Brasil [pt],^[5] also serving as its director.^[6] Castro went into exile in Argentina. She became a member of the Brazilian Communist Party in 1947, serving in the Movimiento Unitario de los Trabajadores e Intelectuales. Towards the end of her life, Castro became devoted to education, being a professor of Portuguese and history.

Castro died on April 6, 1994, in Rio de Janeiro.^[2]

Selected works

• Aquarelas : espécies vegetais em extinção (1987) (in Portuguese)
• Sala 4 : primeira prisão política feminina (1988) (in Portuguese)
• No tempo dos barões : histórias do apogeu e decadência de uma família fluminense no ciclo do café (with Moacir Werneck de Castro; 2004) (in Portuguese)
• Natureza viva : memórias, carreira e obra de uma pioneira do desenho científico no Brasil (with Moacir Werneck de Castro; 2004) (in Portuguese)

See also

• List of suffragists and suffragettes

References

Bibliography

• Assunção, Moacir (2007). Luiz Carlos Prestes: um revolucionário brasileiro (in Portuguese). Lazuli Editora. ISBN 978-85-04-01009-1.
• Dulles, John W. F. (3 July 2014). Brazilian Communism, 1935-1945: Repression during World Upheaval. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-77166-6.
• Dulles, John W. F. (5 July 2010). Carlos Lacerda, Brazilian Crusader: Volume I: The Years 1914-1960. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78936-4.
• Executive Secretariat (1987). Tricontinental. Executive Secretariat of the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
• Schumaher, Schuma; Brazil, Erico Vital (2000). Dicion‡rio mulheres do Brasil: de 1500 até a atualidade : com 270 ilustrações (in Portuguese). J. Zahar. ISBN 978-85-7110-573-7.