Bárbara de Alencar

Bárbara Pereira de Alencar (February 11, 1760 – August 18, 1832) was a Brazilian merchant and revolutionary, who was a major figure in the Pernambucan revolt. She was briefly the president of the Republic of Crato, which was set up in revolt against the Brazilian government. Within 8 days she was captured and tortured by the monarchy, making her the first political prisoner in the history of Brazil.^[1]

Bárbara de Alencar
Born	February 11, 1760 Exu, Pernambuco
Died	August 18, 1832 Fronteiras, Piauí
Nationality	Brazilian
Occupation	Revolutionary

Biography

De Alencar was born in a wealthy family of landowners on February 11, 1760, in Exu, Pernambuco, then a rural part of Pernambuco, and as a teenager she moved to Crato (then a village) in Ceará. There she married the Portuguese trader José Gonçalves dos Santos,^[2] and the two established properties where they profited from the work of enslaved people.^[3]

The De Alencar family was key during the Pernambucan revolt, based in Crato. Barbara was the head of the provisional government that was established by the revolutionaries, serving as the president of the Republic of Crato for 8 days.^[2] However, she was quickly captured, and was held and tortured in the fortress Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Assunção.^[4] This made her the first political prisoner in the history of Brazil.^[4]

De Alencar survived the 70-day Pernambucan revolt and her capture by the authorities, but she was repeatedly forced to flee from political persecution, until she died in 1832 in Fronteiras, Piauí.^[5]

In addition to being a revolutionary herself, Bárbara de Alencar was the mother of the revolutionaries José Martiniano Pereira de Alencar and Tristão Gonçalves (pt), the grandmother of Brazil's most important literary figure and writer José de Alencar,^[6] and an ancestor of the author Paulo Coelho.^[7]

Impact

• The Centro Cultural Bárbara de Alencar (Bárbara de Alencar Cultural Center) awards the Bárbara de Alencar Medal every year to three women who act in ways that improve society^[8]
• The administrative center of the Government of Ceará is called the Bárbara de Alencar Administrative Center^[9]
• A statue of Bárbara de Alencar stands in Fortaleza^[10]
• de Alencar's name is inscribed in the book of Brazilian national heroes in the federal cenotaph Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom^[11]
• de Alencar was the subject of an epic poem by the writer Caetano Ximenes de Aragão (pt)^[12]

References

1. "História apaga rosto de primeira presa política do Brasil". Folha de São Paulo (in Portuguese). 29 September 2001. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
2. "A Presidente Bárbara" (in Portuguese). Mulheres do Cangaço. 18 March 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
3. "Conheça Bárbara Pereira de Alencar, a primeira revolucionária do Brasil" (in Portuguese). Aventures na história. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
4. "Passeio pela História do Ceará". O Globo (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro. 30 August 2001. p. 20.
5. Araújo, Adriane. Bárbara de Alencar (in Portuguese). Fortaleza: Editions Demócrito Rocha. ISBN 85-7529-082-7.
6. de Mendonça, Rani (6 March 2018). "Conheça Bárbara de Alencar, uma das lideranças da Revolução Pernambucana de 1817". Brasil de Fato (in Portuguese). Retrieved 7 August 2020.
7. Morais, Fernando (6 April 2015). O Mago: A incrível história de Paulo Coelho. Editora Novo Conceito.
8. "As Brasileiras Bárbara de Alencar" (in Portuguese). Luizberto. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
9. "LEI Nº 13.293, DE 07.03.03 (D.O. DE 07.03.03)". Assembleia Legislativa do Estado do Ceará. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
10. "Estátua de Bárbara de Alencar desaba de pedestal" (in Portuguese). O Povo online. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
11. "Lei Nº 13.056" (in Portuguese). Government of Brazil. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
12. "Heroina nacional: Bárbara de Alencar". Portal da história do Ceará. 1920. Archived from the original on 14 September 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2020.