Almerinda Farias Gama

Almerinda Farias Gama (Maceió, May 16, 1899 – Rio de Janeiro, March 31, 1999 – São Paulo) was a Brazilian lawyer, journalist, pianist, poet, trade unionist, composer and politician. Gama was one of the first Black women to participate in Brazilian politics and plays an important role in the history of feminist activism in Brazil. She trained as a typist in Belém and as a lawyer in Rio de Janeiro, also working as an actress, teacher, and translator of Spanish, French, and English.

Her recognition as an important figure in Brazilian history is evident in the two entries dedicated to her in two dictionaries: the Dictionary of Women of Brazil: from 1500 to the present day such as, for example, her personal documents (voter registration card and membership card of the Association of Court Clerks in the Federal District), and various documents, such as an article published on December 14, 1975, in the newspaper A Província do Pará, in which she recounts her work with Bertha Lutz in the Brazilian Federation for Women's Progress (FBPF).

Her life story is the subject of the biography "Almerinda Gama: the Black Suffragist" written by journalist Cibele Tenório and published in 2025 by Editora Todavia.

Biography Born in Maceió, Alagoas on May 16, 1899, she was the daughter of teacher Eulalia Maria da Rocha and merchant José Antônio Gama. In 1907, Almerinda Gama moved to Belém,

She married the poet and writer Benigno Farias Gama at the age of 23, with whom she had a son, but lost the child while still in infancy.

In Rio de Janeiro, Gama graduated as a lawyer and became fully involved in political and feminist struggles. She was president of the Brazilian Federation for Women's Progress and was also a figure engaged in the fight for women's suffrage. As a representative of her class, she was eventually appointed, in 1933, as a delegate in the vote that chose the members of the constituent assembly that would draft a new Constitution for Brazil. Gama and Carlota Pereira de Queirós were the only women in the aforementioned Constituent Assembly.

She ran for federal deputy in 1934, but was not elected. She was a leader of the (PSPB), alongside Plínio Gomes de Mello, Vasco Carvalho de Toledo, Waldemar Reikdal, João Vitaca, Sabbatino José Casini, Euclides Vieira Sampaio, Orlando Ramos and Carlos Nogueira Branco. She remained at the head of the Party until 1937, the year in which it was dissolved due to the Estado Novo coup d'état.

She gave several interviews about her politics throughout her life. One of these interviews took place in 1984, given to historians Angela de Castro Gomes and Eduardo Stotz, which was part of the Velhos Militantes project. and it is possible to consult documents such as her voter registration card, her work card at the Typists' Union, her card from the Clerks' Association, as well as her articles: "Escreva-se a História" and "Atualidades Trabalhistas", from 1975. Some of these pieces were recorded by the Brazilian Piano Institute.

In 2020, Cibele Tenório defended a Master's Dissertation in History at the University of Brasília (UnB), entitled A Vida na Ponta dos Dedos (Life at the Fingertips), which aimed to investigate the life trajectory of Almerinda Gama, contributing to filling gaps about aspects of her life.