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Carolina Maria De JesusCarolina Maria de Jesus lived in the prime of the revolutionary stage of Brazil. Being strong-minded and strong willed, Maria had more dreams than most; she wanted to make the best of being apart of the less fortunate group. At the age of thirty-three, in 1947, Carolina made her own housing establishment out of used plywood, cans, cardboard, and anything else that would serve a purpose of having a home. In order to take care of her three illegitimate children (Vera Eunice, Jos Carlos, and Joo), she collected waste paper and sold it for an estimated twenty-five cents a day. Since she was able to both read and write (only had 2nd grade education), Carolina found thrown away notebooks to jot down her life experiences and goals she wanted to attain. From doing so, Carolina accumulated twenty-six notebooks from 1955 to 1958. Discovered by Audalio Dantas in April 1958, Dantas asked for a small sample and ran it in the newspaper. Carolina's story "electrified the town," and in 1960 Quarto de Despejo (Child of the Dark) was published. It became the most successful book in Brazilian publishing history. Although written in the simple, ugly language of a favelado, her diary was translated into thirteen languages and became a bestseller in North America and Europe. After it was all done, her writings were her ticket out of the favela. Reference - Chasteen, John. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. 2001.
- http://www.h-net.org/reviews/
*de Jesus, Carolina Maria. Child of the Dark. Translated by David St. Clair. 1962.
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