Expedita Ferreira

Expedita Ferreira Nunes (Porto da Folha, 13 September 1932) is the only known child of Lampião and Maria Bonita.

Biography

Life

Expedita is the daughter of the cangaceiros Lampião and Maria Bonita. Her parents were killed when she was 5 years old, and she was taken care of by their allies Manuel Severo and Aurora. She was discovered by a Children's Court judge when she was 10 and from there on she was raised by her uncle, João Ferreira. She lived on her grandmother's farm. As inheritance, she only received her father's lock of hair. In 1947, she married Manoel Messias Nunes Neto and moved to Aracaju. She became a housewife and had four children: Iza, Gleuse, Dejair and Vera. Her daughter Vera became a sociologist specialized on the history of Lampião.

Expedita's family did not talk about her father, and she only heard his story in 1969, when the writer Maria Matta Machado invited her to travel to São Paulo for the release of her book As Táticas de Guerra dos Cangaceiros (The Military Tactics of the Cangaceiros). There, she met the cangaceiros Sila, Sereno, Dadá, Balão and Pitombeira. But, according to historians, he was probably born in 1942 and his ears were pierced during the time he lived with indigenous people of Maranhão. Around 1992, she gave a DNA sample to compare it with João Peitudo's, but the results were inconclusive. In 1994, another test was done, where João Peitudo's DNA was compared with Lampião's sister Mocinha and a sister of Maria Bonita. Folha de S.Paulo has initially reported that the result was positive, but in 1996 the journal reported the result was indeed negative.

Legal procedures

Expedita is the major shareholder of the company Lampião e Maria Bonita, that manages the image of the couple.

In 2011, she sued a Pernambucan motel franchise for using the slogan "Maria Bonita, turn on my Lampião".

In 2022, she sued Netflix, Inc. for not consulting her during the production of Time Hustler.

Opinions

Expedita has denied that the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) is an inheritor of the social fight done by Lampião. According to Expedita, "he landless workers are destroying everything in this life, as there are many around here that own stuff, sell it to become landless and fall into mayhem." On 11 May, she became honorary citizen of Aracaju, Mancha Verde didn't know about the existence of a child of Lampião, and Expedita's participation happened due to the initiative of her family. Her daughters also helped organize the event.