Nuta James

Nuta Bartlett James (May 8, 1885 – April 6, 1976), also known as Benevenuta Monteiro James, was a Brazilian revolutionary and feminist.

Life Nuta Bartlett James was born in Alegrete, Brazil, in the border zone with Uruguay and Argentina. Her birth in 1885 came in the final years of the Empire of Brazil, when two popular movements were bringing Brazilians into the streets: abolitionism and republicanism.

James was a granddaughter of the baron of São Borja, a city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Her paternal grandfather, Baron Vitorino José Carneiro Monteiro, had an illustrious military career: Though he was born in Recife, he participated in memorable campaigns in Uruguay and Paraguay, having also fought in Pernambuco, Panelas, Miranda, and Jacuípe.

Her mother was Sarah Chermont Monteiro, and her father was Victorino Ribeiro Carneiro Monteiro, who represented her native state, Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil's Republican Constituent Assembly in 1891. She was educated at Colégio Sion in Petrópolis. Her husband was imprisoned again, along with one of their younger sons, on the eve of the Revolution of 1930, an uprising that she was strongly committed to. When Washington Luís' government surrendered on October 24, 1930, Nuta James headed alone to the prison to free her husband and son. The warden disappeared, and the couple assumed control of the penitentiary, keeping non-political prisoners from escaping. for which she ran for a seat in the national legislature. Her election loss was primarily attributed to a campaign initiated by the Catholic Church, For her enthusiasm, she was chosen as national director of the UDN. She was an active participant in the campaigns of 1945, which brought down Getúlio Vargas, and of 1964, in opposition to the situation in which the country found itself, which culminated with the victory of the military movement. She became disillusioned with the direction taken by the movement, however, and James left politics again. She died in 1976, in Rio de Janeiro. Nuta James Avenue in Barra da Tijuca, and Terminal Rodoviário Nuta James in Rio.