Lelia Gonzalez's 85th Birthday

Google Dooles 01.02.2020 03:13  Date: February 1, 2020 Today’s Doodle celebrates Brazilian anthropologist and activist Lélia Gonzalez, widely known as one of the most influential figures of the 20th-century black civil rights and feminist movements of Brazil. Born in Belo Horizonte on this day in 1935, at a young age Gonzalez moved to Rio de Janeiro and entered a high school that forced her to deny her black-indigenous heritage to be accepted by teachers and white classmates. Experiences such as this inspired Gonzalez to preserve her Afro-Brazilian culture and become the first in her family to pursue higher education. She continued on to earn her PhD in Social Anthropology and started her acclaimed career as a cultural studies professor. Gonzalez utilized her academic work to advocate against racial and gender discrimination and outside of universities, she was a dedicated activist. In 1978, she co-founded the Unified Black Movement which is considered to be among the most impactful black civil rights organizations in Brazil. Gonzalez began to travel around the world as a representative of the group and spread its message of social justice. She recognized the power of these movements to propagate change and co-founded Brazil’s first women’s rights group, the Nzinga Collective of Women, in 1983. Gonzalez’s passion to free the world of racism and sexism will be remembered by many generations to come. In honor of her landmark achievements, The United Nations of Brazil named a new building after Lélia Gonzalez in 2015. Early concepts and drafts by artist Olivia When Location: Tags: