A história da educação de mulheres pobres nas instituições escolares noturnas primárias de Uberlândia/MG (1933-1959): espaço de luta e resistência pela escolarização

Abstract

This study approaches the education history of poor women attending evening classes in primary educational institutions in the city of Uberlândia/MG, Brazil. The time frame begins in 1933, when we located the first evening school for women in the city, and ends in 1959, and ends in 1959, the year of the last record of primary night institution found in the documents surveyed in the public archive of Uberlândia. To develop this work, we based on the assumptions of the New Cultural History, because this field has expanded the possibilities of research and indicated themes and sources not previously researched. In this study, we considered the following thesis: before a Uberlandian society that aimed at modernization and economic progress, but remained conservative in its customs, poor women, mostly workers, succeeded in the social space through primary evening schools, resisting with their school schedules and, above all, building resistance tactics which changed the school environment, establishing a “re-appropriation” of that space. At the end of the period analyzed, education became a common space for both men and women. The main objectives of the research were to map and analyze the characteristics of evening primary educational institutions that received women in the period analyzed; to characterize and analyze the profile of students at the evening primary schools investigated; to investigate the working conditions of teachers in evening schools; to search the resistance of female workers to study in Uberlândia. In addition to the literature research, we consulted documents such as school meeting minutes, enrollment books, teachers’ time tracking records, students’ daily attendance books, pictures and newspapers from the time analyzed: A Tribuna, Correio de Uberlândia, and O Repórter. All materials were researched in the Public Archives of Uberlândia. While tracking the history of educational institutions that offered evening classes for women between 1933 and 1959, we identified seven institutions: Escola Noturna Municipal para o Sexo Feminino, Escola Noturna Municipal Benedito Valadares, Escola Municipal Modelo Governador Valadares, Escola Municipal Padre Anchieta, Grupo Escolar Noturno Felisberto Carrejo, Grupo Escolar Noturno Governador Valadares, and Escola Noturna para Alfabetização de Adultos da Cerâmica “Eldorado” in the rural area. In the city of Uberlândia, with its motto “Order, Progress and Modernization”, women enrolled in evening schools did not fit the pattern of “queen of the home” and were not recognized as workers. They were "invisible", being remembered through biased publications and for negative reasons. There was no incentive to attend evening classes and there were many obstacles imposed by the ruling classes, especially for women in domestic activities. Evening schools’ schedules were rigid and ignored by mistresses who controlled and watched the working hours of their employees. Despite this fact, we observed that women resisted all odds in favor of their schooling.