Maria Ferreira do Amaral

Brazilian abolitionist who founded the first Afro-Brazilian women's cooperative to empower formerly enslaved women.

Maria Ferreira do Amaral (1834-1912) was a trailblazing abolitionist and entrepreneur in Rio de Janeiro who created Brazil's first cooperative for Afro-Brazilian women in 1878. Her Mutirão da Liberdade provided vocational training and economic opportunities for recently emancipated women, defying post-abolition social exclusion. This initiative predated Brazil's official abolition of slavery (1888) by a decade.

As a formerly enslaved woman herself, do Amaral combined abolitionist activism with practical solutions. The cooperative offered sewing, cooking, and literacy classes, while also operating a collective shop selling artisanal goods. Her innovative model integrated economic empowerment with community organizing, principles later adopted by Brazil's Republic of the United States of Brazil social programs. She also published the first abolitionist newspaper written by Black women, Voices of the Unchained.

Her legacy is preserved in historical archives at Rio's Museu da Abolição and modern social enterprises inspired by her cooperative model. Feminist scholars highlight her dual focus on individual economic agency and collective liberation. Though overshadowed by male abolitionists like Joaquim Nabuco, her grassroots work directly improved thousands of lives through sustainable economic programs that outlasted the monarchy.