By Keisha Mitchell
Council Woman, Activist, Educator, and Feminist Marielle Franco was born in July of 1972 in one of Brazil’s most notorious favelas, Mare ́. Her birthplace initiated her as one of the 1.5 million who call themselves “People of the Hill”; a term given to the residents of the sprawling structures situated on the faces of the small mountains across the country.
The settlements have a long history that begin with the communities first formed by Africans after slavery in the late 1800s. Later, gentrification pushed Afro Brazilians out of the country’s “downtown” and many migrants found themselves in Rio searching for employment between the 1930s and 1940s. Though favelas had been declared illegal in 1937, it didn’t stop the flux of families and individuals taking up their small plot within the maze of homes long after the ruling nor did isolation of Brazil’s darkest Brothers and Sisters stop them from persecution or the pitfalls of poverty.
This social petri dish incubated a young Marielle’s sense of awareness and prompted her to begin working to save for college at the age of 11. Throughout her youth, she continued to bear witness to the injustices that were inherent to her community and became inspired to make an impact. This inspiration was amplified in 2000, when a friend of Francos’ was slain by a stray bullet, prompting Franco to fully engage herself as a Human Rights’ Activist. In 2007, not long after she received a formal degree in Social Sciences leading to a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the prestigious Fluminense Federal University, she began working as a consultant and coordinated her first major contribution to Brazil’s infrastructure reform: the state legislatures’ “Committee for the Defense of Human Rights and Citizenship”. This program and the few others Franco implemented during her time as
a local organizer set the stage for her to rise to prominence both publicly and politically. Her dazzling ascension, unfortunately also set the stage for an ominous, swift fall.
In 2016, Franco ran for a seat on Rio de Janeiro’s city council with a platform that positioned her as both an advocate and guardian of Brazil’s poor black women and those who lived within the Favelas. In a historic feat, Franco easily took over 45,000 votes, making her one of 51 official