Meet Enedina Alves Marques, Google’s great honoree

Enedina Alves Marques is a milestone in the history of Brazil and, this Friday, the 13th, it was Google’s great honor.

Daughter of a farmer and a maid, she was the first black female engineer in the country and received the honor on her 110th birthday.

Enedina graduated in civil engineering in 1945 at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), in Curitiba.

The path was not easy, but the engineer never gave up on education and struggled between studies and work to graduate.

Lindamir Salete Casagrande wrote a children’s book inspired by Enedina’s story and, in it, she covers why her experience is so important and inspiring.

“The university was not designed for women nor for blacks. Just think: it was a poor black woman, the daughter of freed slaves who survived in a class with elite white men. It was a very arduous and significant battle.”, declared Lindamir.

Lizete Marques84 years old, Enedina’s niece praised her aunt’s story and said that she is an inspiration, even at home.

“Her life was not easy. She struggled a lot to graduate. She was the only one of seven brothers, all men. She was the only woman. They all worked and she was the only one who studied. But in the past, study was not valued as it is now”, she said.

A successful engineer, Enedina participated in major works in Paraná, one of them being the Capivari-Cachoeira Power Plant, currently called the Governador Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza Power Plant, which is the largest underground hydroelectric power plant in southern Brazil.

“Imagine what it means for a black woman to carry out the work on the plant in a field in the middle of the bush? As they say, it is very likely that she carried a revolver in her waist, and that from time to time she fired a few shots in the air. great need to be respected.”said Maria Rita of Assis Cesar about Enedina’s story.