Maria Montouro Makusso

Angolan educator who pioneered women's literacy programs under Portuguese colonial rule

Maria Montouro Makusso (1905-1972) was a visionary educator from Angola who defied colonial restrictions to establish the first women's literacy centers in Luanda during the 1930s. Despite being denied formal education herself, she secretly taught hundreds of women using clandestine 'reading huts' that became hubs for political awakening. Her 1948 manifesto Education as Liberation influenced post-colonial educational policies across Portuguese Africa. Makusso's work is featured in the British Museum's African archives and the UNESCO Angolan Heritage Site. She collaborated with anti-colonial leaders like Agostinho Neto while maintaining schools during the brutal repression of the 1950s. Recent scholarship includes "Female Literacy Networks in Colonial Angola" by Dr. Sofia Andrade.