Abstract
Margarida Maria Alves was born in Alagoa Grande in the state of Paraiba, Brazil. From a rural area, she battled for workers' and women's rights. In 1973, she was elected the first woman president of Alagoa Grande trade union and served in this position for ten years. During this period, she took owners of sugar factories and big landholders to court over labor rights, fighting for such things as an eight‐hour workday and legal vacations. At that time, in the 1980s, a National Agrarian Reform Plan was created, and violence in the countryside increased. In this context, a masked gunman murdered Alves on August 12, 1983, in front of her house, in the presence of her husband and children. The assailant escaped, and the crime remains unpunished. Alves has been nationally recognized as a symbol in the struggle for agrarian reform and women's rights. A human rights foundation has been named for her, and her motto is well known: “Better to die fighting than starving.”
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