Mulheres em movimento – um paralelo entre Sueli Carneiro e Graça do Aché na mobilização do movimento negro entre 1980-1990.

Abstract

The research that gave rise to this monograph began in 2021, through a project funded by FAPEMIG. The aim of the research was to recover the history and memory of Maria da Graça Oliveira, who is the patron of the Graça do Aché Black Culture Memory Center, a cultural institution at the Federal University of Uberlândia. The reconstruction of Maria da Graça's trajectory as founder and leader of Bloco Aché and Grêmio Recreativo do Bloco Aché was motivated by an understanding of her importance to the black movement in Uberlândia during the 1980s and late 1990s. Acting as a creator of community support networks, Maria da Graça left and continues to leave a deep mark on the city's black movement. Her legacy has been reinterpreted through her role as patron of the Graça do Aché Center, which has increasingly become a space of quilombismo (gathering and resistance of the black community) for the black population of Uberlândia. In addition, the study draws a parallel between the actions of Graça do Aché and the philosopher and black feminist activist Sueli Carneiro during the 1980s and 1990s, revealing how both women played crucial roles in shaping the black movements in Uberlândia and São Paulo, respectively. This comparison highlights the strength and leadership of black women in Brazil's political and social movements.