Born: 10 February 1939, Angola
Died: 2 March 1967
Country most active: Angola
Also known as: Langidila
Angola’s “Mother of the Revolution”, Deolinda Rodrigues Francisco de Almeida had many roles throughout her short life: nationalist, militant, writer, poet and translator, teacher and radio host.
Raised Methodist, in her late teens she began to question paternalistic attitudes in both the church and the government. She joined the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in 1956 as a translator. She later received a scholarship to study sociology at the Methodist University of Sao Paolo, where she began exchanging letters with Martin Luther King, Jr. She never finished her studies – fearing extradition by the Portuguese colonial government because of her involvement with the Angolan independence movement, she moved to the United States to study at Drew University before choosing to return to Angola to be more active in the movement.
Rodrigues travelled to Guinea-Bissau and Congo Kinshasa, cofounding the Organização da Mulher de Angola (Organization of Angolan Women or OMA) arm of the MPLA. She also received guerrilla training in Kabinda, returning to Angola in 1962.
As a leader of the independence movement, she campaigned for human rights, and worked with the Corpo Voluntário Angolano de Assistência aos Refugiados (CVAAR). The Angolan government expelled MPLA leaders in 1963, forcing them to flee to Brazzaville, and later to the border with Cabinda in 1966, where fighting intensified over the following two years.
On 2 March 1967, Rodrigues and fellow OMA members Engracia dos Santos, Irene Cohen, Lucrecia Paim, and Teresa Afonso were captured by the União dos Povos de Angola guerrilla group on 2 March 1967. The women were tortured and executed.
Her diary was published in 2003 as Diário de um exilio sem regresso and her letters and correspondence were published in 2004 as Cartas de Langidila e outros documentos. Her writing reflects leanings toward Marxism, frustration at the sexist attitudes towards her even as she was a leader, and being treated as “shameful” for being single. The documentary Langidila—diário de um exílio sem regresso (Langidila—Diary of an exile without return) was released in 2014, telling the story of the independence of Angola from the perspective of Rodrigues and her fellow freedom fighters.
Her cousin, poet Agostinho Neto, became the first president of Angola in 1975.