Maria Firmina dos Reis: The Erasure of an Author and the Recuperation of a Legacy

The very first woman to write a novel in Brazil was Afro-Brazilian: Maria Firmina dos Reis published Ursula in 1859. The novel, published with her own savings, was the first abolitionist piece ever written in the country in which Black enslaved characters were treated as equals to white ones. Tragically, the book disappeared from shelves in Brazil for almost a century. Maria Firmina was not only Afro-Brazilian and a woman, but also from Nordeste, a region that is discriminated against by other parts of Brazil. I believe her erasure in the Brazilian literary canon was not a mere coincidence. Her multiple unprivileged identities “intersected” and contributed to the “memoricide’ of the author. Her unique story, her strong and groundbreaking voice against racism, and her lack of presence in Brazilian libraries, will be analyzed to better understand the structural racism that took place in literary production in Brazil. Additionally, her visual portrayals today will be examined to analyze a possible whitewashing of the author. This research will contribute to the field of Afro-Brazilian literature with further implications to the fields of Latin American studies and Brazilian Cultural Studies. The goal is to analyze the probable political motivations and results of such erasure, and how they relate to Black literature development and marginalization in Brazil over the last two centuries.