Joaquim Aurelio Barreto Nabuco de Araujo

Joaquim Nabuco was a Brazilian writer, statesman, and a leading voice in the abolitionist movement of his country. He was born in Recife, Pernambuco, in 1849, into an old aristocratic family. His father, José Tomás Nabuco, was a prominent politician and a lifetime senator. Joaquim Nabuco studied law at the Faculty of Law of Recife and later at the University of São Paulo. He began his political career as a member of the Liberal Party, and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1878. He became one of the most eloquent and influential advocates of the abolition of slavery in Brazil, founding the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society and writing several books and articles on the subject, such as O Abolicionismo (1883). He also defended the rights of the indigenous peoples, the republic, and the federalism. He was a friend of the famous writer Machado de Assis, and one of the founders of the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1897. In 1900, he was appointed as the ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom, and later to the United States. He was a strong supporter of Pan-Americanism, and presided over the 1906 Pan-Americanism conference in Rio de Janeiro. He also wrote several works of history, biography, and memoirs, such as Minha Formação (1900), Um Estadista do Império (1897-1899), and Balmaceda (1895). He died in Washington, D.C., in 1910, from a cerebral hemorrhage. He is regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian intellectuals and statesmen of his time, and a national hero for his role in the abolition of slavery.