Iris Cabral (1906 – June 1936) was an Afro-Uruguayan feminist and labor activist.[1]

Iris Cabral
Born1905
DiedJune 1936(1936-06-00) (aged 30–31)
Uruguay
Occupation(s)Feminist and labor activist
Known forOrganized the first domestic workers' union in Uruguay

Life edit

Cabral organized the first domestic workers' union in Uruguay. In the 1930s she and Clementina Silva founded the first Anti-Fascist Committee of Uruguay.[2] She and Maruja Pereyra were the "most visible, militant and outspoken" contributors to the Afro-Uruguayan paper Nuestra Raza after it was restarted in 1933. Both Cabral and Pereyra participated in the April 1936 National Congress of Women. However, Cabral died young in June 1936.[1]

Legacy edit

Pereyra remembered Cabral in glowing terms:

She was an example of our youth, she gave everything to her race. Everything I said about her, about her merits, would pale by comparison with the reality. Perhaps too good for this world, she led us to a better world.[1]

In 2016 Cabral's memory was honoured by the legislature of Montevideo.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Caroll Mills Young (Fall 2004). "From Voicelessness to Voice: Womanist Writers of the Black Uruguayan Press". Afro-Hispanic Review. 23 (2): 33–38.
  2. ^ a b "Iris Cabral, activista afrouruguaya". Junta Departamental de Montevideo. 12 May 2016.