Benedita da silva sparknotes

Benedita da Silva (Benedita Souza da Silva; b. 11 March ), first Afro-Brazilian woman to be elected to Brazil's congress. Da Silva, known as Bené, was one of thirteen children born to a poor Rio de Janeiro family.

Married at sixteen, she had five children in rapid succession, of whom only two survived. She was an early member of the newly formed Worker's Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores—PT), and in successfully ran on the PT ticket for Rio's city council.

In , having campaigned largely in Rio's favelas (slums), she was elected as a federal deputy to the Chamber of Deputies, Brazil's lower house, becoming one of only nine blacks and twenty-five women in Brazil's member Congress.

She was reelected in

An energetic supporter of the rights of the oppressed, da Silva has described herself as "three times a minority," stating: "As a black, a woman, and a favelada [slum dweller], I have a special responsibility to speak out on the subjects that I know about—