Maria Tomásia Figueira Lima
Brazilian aristocrat and abolitionist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maria Tomásia Figueira Lima (6 December 1826 – 1902) was a Brazilian aristocrat and abolitionist.[1][2] She was the cofounder of the Sociedade das Senhoras Libertadoras ou Cearenses Libertadoras, a group which was the first of its kind in the country that was formed and led exclusively by women.
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Biography
Maria Tomásia Figueira was born 6 December 1826, in Sobral, a municipality in the interior of Ceará.[3] She belonged to the traditional families Figueira de Melo, Xerez and Viriato de Medeiros.[4] Her parents were Ana Francisca Figueira de Melo and José Xerez Furna.[5]
She moved to Fortaleza after marrying the abolitionist Francisco de Paula de Oliveira Lima.[3][6]
In 1882, together with twenty-two abolitionist women of prominent families,[7] including Elvira Pinho,[8] Francisca Nunes da Cruz, Carolina Cordeiro, Luduvina Borges, Eugênia Amaral, Jacinta Souto, Maria Teófilo Morais, Maria Nunes Façanha, Lina Bezerra and Joana Bezerra, among others,[9] Figueira participated in the founding of the Sociedade das Senhoras Libertadoras ou Cearenses Libertadoras. According to the Dicionário da escravidão negra no Brasil, it was installed on 6 January 1883 with the name Sociedade Abolicionista Feminina.[10] Figueira served as president of the organization whose objective was to fight for the abolition of slavery.[9][11][4] This group became the first of its kind in Brazil that was formed and led exclusively by women.[8]