User:Xanafurtado/Maria Firmina dos Reis/Scolopendra17 Peer Review

Childhood and Family
Maria Firmina dos Reis was born on the island of São Luís, Maranhão, on March 11, 1822, but was baptized on December 21, 1825, due to an illness that she fought during her first few years of life. According to her baptismal record, Maria was baptized in the "Parish of Our Lady of Victory" in São Luís. Her godparents were claimed as the captain of the militia, João Nogueira de Souza, and "Our lady of Medicine". The record did not state her date of birth of parents  [this sentence feels unnecessary– if it doesn't state it I feel like you can just leave it out] . On June 25th 1847, After enrolling in the public contest for the Primary Education course in the village of São José de Guimarães, which was only possible for those 25 years old or older, Maria Firmina requested a new baptismal justification certificate, in which she informed that her date of birth was March 11, 1822 and that her mother was Leonor Felipa. Leonor had been the slave of Commander Caetano José Teixeira, who died in 1819, a great merchant and landowner in the village of São José de Guimarães, owner of a commercial company with large transactions at the end of the colonial period and at the beginning of the Empire.

Both the baptismal record and the 1847 certificate omit the name of Maria Firmina's father, which was only declared on her death certificate, dated November 17, 1917, with the name João Pedro Esteves. João Pedro Esteves, a wealthy man, was a partner of the former owner of Maria Firmina's mother, the slave Leonor Felipa, in his trading company.

According to some sources, she is the cousin of the Maranhão writer Francisco Sotero dos Reis on her mother's side, although it is not known on what basis and to what degree.

In 1830, Maria moved with her family to the village of São José de Guimarães, on the mainland. She lived part of her life in the house of a better-off maternal aunt. In 1847, she ran for the chair of Primary Instruction and being approved, she exercised her profession there, [remove comma]  as a teacher of Elementary school, [remove comma]  from 1847 to 1881. Maria Firmina dos Reis never married.

Career
In 1859, she published the novel Úrsula, which is considered the first novel published by a Brazilian woman. In 1887, she published her short story “A escrava” (the slave) in the Revista maranhense. This short story follows an active participant of the abolitionist movement.

At 54 years old and after worked [working]  34 years as a professor, Maria Firmina founded, in Maçaricó, a few kilometers from Guimarães, a free and mixed class for students who could not pay. She taught this class in a shack on a plantation, [comma should be a semicolon or replace ", she" with " and"]  she drove to this lesson every morning in a driven cart. There, she taught the plantation owner’s daughters, students she took with her, and others that joined the class. Norma Telles, an academic, called Maria Firmina’s initiative “a bold experiment for the time period”. This innovative action lasted until the first meeting of the lutas das feministas brasileiras (the fights of the Brazilian feminists) near the end of the 19th century, which advocated for   [You have a double space here] equality in the education available to young women in Brasil.

Maria Firma dos Reis was very active in the intellectual community of Maranhão: she worked with local press, published books, participated in various anthologies, was a musician and songwriter, and an abolitionist. [I may be wrong here but I believe you need to either say "was an abolitionist" or "was a musician, songwriter, and abolitionist"]  When she received her position as professor, at 22 years old, her mother wanted her to take a palanquin carried by enslaved people to the ceremony, but she decided to walk, saying: "Black people are not animals to ride upon". She also wrote the hymn of abolition "no longer slaves".

In 1863, she described herself as “shy and have a weak complexion”, and, because of this “  [remove space] could not help but be a fragile, timid, and by consequence, a melancholy creature”. At 85 years old, those who knew her would describe her as small, mixed race, round faced, dark eyes,  [insert and] with grey curly [Should be curly grey or grey, curly]  hair. A student of hers, [remove comma]  described her as an energetic professor that spoke quietly, [replace comma with and]  wouldn’t punish students harshly, often preferring to counsel than scold. She was reserved, but willing to be open with those around her. She was held in high esteem by her students and by those that lived in the village: every parade in Guimarães made a stop at her door to cheer, to which she would give an impromptu speech.

General info

 * Whose work are you reviewing?

Xanafurtado


 * Link to draft you're reviewing
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Xanafurtado/Maria_Firmina_dos_Reis?veaction=edit&preload=Template%3ADashboard.wikiedu.org_draft_template


 * Link to the current version of the article (if it exists)
 * Maria Firmina dos Reis

Evaluate the drafted changes
This is a very good article with very relevant information! Other than the changes outlined above, I have two main comments:


 * 1) The last two paragraphs of "career" could probably be put under a different subject as they don't have to do with her career so much as her impact on others around her. Maybe under the heading "character?"
 * 2) I noticed all of your sources are from Portuguese Wikipedia; I feel you may be better off just linking to the sources from which those pages were written.