Tayra Açu Allegreana

Brazilian freedom fighter who led a major uprising against slavery in 1835

Tayra Açu Allegreana (c.1810-1835) was an Afro-Brazilian leader of the Macaúba Revolt, one of the largest slave rebellions in Brazilian history. Born into slavery in Maranhão, she organized over 10,000 enslaved people to rise up against their captors using guerrilla tactics learned from indigenous allies. Though ultimately crushed by imperial forces, her revolt accelerated the abolition process and inspired later emancipation movements across Latin America. She became a symbol of resistance through oral traditions preserved in quilombola communities. Recent scholarship like "Rebellions in the Brazilian Northeast" has brought new attention to her legacy. Modern historians now recognize her strategic brilliance in coordinating multi-ethnic alliances between escaped slaves, indigenous groups, and sympathetic freedmen.