Born: 12 October 1904, Brazil
Died: 12 May 1991
Country most active: Brazil
Also known as: Laudelina Geremias
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Laudelina de Campos Melo was an important Afro-Brazilian activist and labor organizer. She spent most of her life as a domestic worker, where she noticed the discrimination and undervaluing of working women. She dedicated her life to changing public perception and policies regarding domestic workers and successfully established organizations to advocate for their labor rights.
In 1924, Melo married Henrique Geremias, a stone mason from Rio de Janeiro, and got involved in politics, joining the Communist Party of Brazil, the Black Brazilian Front (Frente Negra Brasileira), and the cultural group Saudades de Campinas. They lived in São Paulo until 1932, when they moved to Santos. In Santos, Melo’s activism focused on fighting racial prejudice and supporting the rights of working women. In 1936, she started the Santos Domestic Laborers’ Association (Associação Beneficente das Domésticas de Santos) to educate and empower domestic workers about their legal rights.
Melo continued her fight for domestic workers’ rights. In the late 1940s, she moved to Mogi das Cruzes while working as a nanny. She returned to Campinas in 1954 or 1955, opened a boarding house, and sold snacks at football stadiums to supplement her income. She was part of the Teatro Experimental do Negro, a group that provided cultural activities for black youth. In 1961, she founded the Association of Campinas’ Domestic Laborers (Associação dos Empregados Domésticos de Campinas) and advocated for domestic workers’ rights. In 1972, domestic workers gained Social Security and paid holidays. In 1982, Melo returned to the Association of Domestic Workers, assisting in its transformation into an official union in 1988, the Union of Domestic Workers (Sindicato dos Trabalhadores Domésticos de Campinas).