Narcisa Amália de Oliveira Campos ( São João da Barra, 3 April 1856 - Rio de Janeiro, 24 June 1924) was a Brazilian poet, and women's rights activist. She also considered the first female professional journalist in Brazil. [1]
Narcisa Amália was born in São João da Barra in 1856. In addition to several newspapers, she wrote for O Sexo Feminino (1870s), and collaborated in the journal A leitura (Reading; 1894-1896). In her debut book, Nebulosas she advanced the importance of the role of the press in the struggle against slavery. [1] During this period, only few women were able to achieve renown as poets and literary figures in Brazil. [2] This is attributed to the lack of women participation in Brazilian politics, literature, and education during the peak and decline of the country's pariarchal system. [3] After publishing Nebulosas, Amália became engaged in a bitter dispute as it "was attributed to a 'young man' who borrowed her name". [4]
Amália became active in the abolitionist movement and was credited, along with Maria Firmina dos Reis, for her literary production that challenged racist ideologies in Brazil. [5] She published Miragem, Nelumbia and O Romance da Mulher que Amou. Driven by strong social sensitivity, she fought against women's oppression. A women's rights activist, her 1892 book A Mulher do Século XIX (Women of the Nineteenth Century), was a call to women to fight for their rights. [6]
Some of her writing was published in a work by Antônio Simões dos Reis. [7] Critical study of her work has been done by Christina Ramalho in Um espelho para Narcisa: Reflexos de uma voz romantica (1999). [8] This book also discussed her life. [8]