by Daniel Orey, José Pedro Machado Ribeiro and Rogério Ferreira. 

           The twenty-ninth day of the month of September in 1920, in Recife , initiated a vital cycle that would come to re-signify meanings and fundamental written symbols of words as transformed by the educational environment. On this illustrious day, Paulo Reglus Neves Freire, or more simply Paulo Freire was born. He was a man who dedicated his entire life to a dialectic education, filled with love, humility and hope, which humanization forms the central point of true liberty – not a false liberty in favor of dominating systems.

           Beneath the shade of a mango tree in the garden of the house were he was born, his parents helped him to understand what was initially perceived as a mountain of letters. From his intimacy with trees to his intimacy with the pedagogical universe, he lived in a time giving him understanding and knowledge of hunger and the consequences of misery. Through the world economic crisis of 1929 and the reality of the Northeast region of Brazil , the young Freire came to acknowledge the political dimension of education, and a passionate process that triggered multiple theoretical and practical outgrowths of immeasurable valor. In 1944, when he was 23 years old, another passion was combined with others he married Elza Maria Costa de Oliveira. Together they formed a union of intense love, and shared this intense vigor during the same moments of extreme difficulty. They had 5 children and together they constructed a life.

           After more than 40 years of marriage, a supportive and harmonious cohabitation, a profoundly eternal love came to an end, and they were separated the 24th of October 1986 with the death of Elza. After the loss of his wife, he wrote letters to her that he never wanted published.

           He became known for a profound theme of literacy. But what was it that literacy meant for Paulo? From the beginning, and in truth, he recognized that there was a need to redefine literacy,. He developed a definition that included differentiated principles for instigating reflexive, critical, and contextualized learning. A Freirian proposal includes the idea that words and generated meanings arose from common experiences, and with a socio-political-cultural reality, that conveys a productive consciousness – capable of understanding the relationships that involve and therefore, transform them. In this context, humanized principles govern both the educator’s practices as well as those of the learner’s, not it not sufficient to simply read and write, and to generate more than understanding, but to give freedom to thinking - making sense of what they knew, in such a way that they understand the role of the oppressed in relationship to the oppressor, and what they needed to maintain themselves and not that of the dominator’s. Paulo, by way of “investigation”, “thematization” and “problematization” created necessary stages and a literacy that were in the end, beyond the act of reading and writing. Paulo’s theory of literacy is constituted in the development of a critical conscience.

           Freire obtained success with his first experiences in the northeast region of Brazil and, as a result, was invited, by the government of then President João Goulart. He was asked to coordinate the National Literacy Plan , and took the opportunity to guide the marginalized of society to a position of dignity.

           He was interested in the unique opportunity to transform the Brazilian educational situation, that was then fundamentally based on the qualitative character of the learner and not based on the quantitative, and that formed a favorable reality where all were disheartened towards the completion of official statistics tables. Unfortunately, the military coup of 1964 interrupted the process that installed 20 thousand “culture circles” that served two million people who were in the process of learning to read and write. It began a truly sad phase in Brazilian history, in which dictatorial forces won positions in the national political scene.

           In June of 1964, Paulo Freire was imprisoned because of his political activism, and his consciousness concerning those who were massacred, because his love was his greatest weapon for the revolution, and because he was a man who communicated with a difference, and believed that education was a source of liberation. Freire believed in change, and he acted tirelessly in favor of these changes. After 70 days of anguish and suffering while in prison, he was exiled to Bolivia , Chile , the United States , Switzerland , Guinea-Bissau , São Tomé and Principe , and Australia , …the world. While in exile, he served as professor at the Universidade Católica de Santiago, Special Consultant to UNESCO, visiting professor at the Center for Developmental Studies at Harvard, consultant for the World Council of Churches, Educational Counselor to governments of the 3rd world, President of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Cultural Action, and an organizer of national literacy programs in Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Principe. These were some of the functions exercised around the world by this educator, who at the same time that he delivered functional activities, produced numerous written works that won him world recognition shedding light on ideas of cultural valorization, and the creation of a more just society.

           Dialogue, the very core of his pedagogical perspective, serves as the base of a theory that makes use of collaboration, unity, organization and cultural synthesis. This was in comparison with, the anti- dialogue that is established as a contrary perspective: the necessity of achievement, division for domination, and the manipulation and cultural invasion by dominating forces. All his ideas were in contrary to the prevailing educational conceptions of the time that placed the student in an inferior position. His book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” looked to establish an encounter between the dominating awareness of the time, which served to accommodate the dominator, and that of the revolutionary leadership who wanted to construct a favorable theory towards action of the oppressed in society. In his own words:

           ...the people, in this environment, while crushed and oppressed, assimilate some of the attitudes of the oppressor, they cannot, alone, form a theory for their own actions for liberation. Only through encounters with the revolutionary leadership, common participation in both ways, and for the use and practice of both, is where this theory is made and remade.

           In 1979, as a world citizen, Freire could step once again on Brazilian soil. After more than fifteen years of exile, in March 1980 he landed at Viracopos Airport in Campinas . He returned to a country that had lost so much through his absence and from the malevolent actions caused by an absurd ideological prejudice. Secondly, his exile, demanded that he build a greater intimacy with his actuality. It was necessary, as he said “...to relearn about Brazil ”. Right after his return and notwithstanding the difficulties imposed on him by the then university president, he was employed by Universidade Estadual de Campinas,  did not consider that Paulo Freire had been designated with the title of Honorary Doctor by four important institutions: The Open University of London, University of Louvain (Belgium), the University of Michigan (United States) and the University of Geneva (Switzerland) – later on this number would grow to twenty seven institutions.

           He was affiliated with the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Worker’s Party). For six years worked as the director for the Fundação Wilson Pinheiro, where he was involved with adult literacy. In 1986, he received the Education for Peace Award from UNESCO which reaffirmed his disbeliefs in educational systems that hid injustices, and the social perversions that impeded those that bring peace. He was reintegrated, as a professor, at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. At the end of 1980’s, undertook the office of Secretary of Education for the municipality of São Paulo . Besides the many other activities that he was involved in, after his exile, he combined his published theoretical works to his most important and fundamental works. This gave him a conscious transformation, in his passion for teaching, formed when he was young, shaping his history and guiding him his entire life.

           In 1987, he married Ana Maria Hasche, who became Ana Maria de Araújo Freire, the marriage represented not only a renewal as a continuous possibility, but as an opportunity that everybody could perceive that happiness is viable when prejudices are not established in the desired human being.

           Paulo Reglus Neves Freire passed away on May 2, 1997 , just after the release of his last book: “Pedagogia da Autonomia: Saberes Necessários à Prática Educativa” (The Pedagogy of Autonomy: Necessary Knowledge that Leads to Educational Practice). This production his final act. It gave the world a life history that all could use, contributed towards an education in harmony with socio-political realities. An academics towards and applicable as well as culturally situated. Paulo’s life and work seeks a globalized standard that favors coherence and justice. Because of this, he will be eternally remembered. More than this: his life serves as a example for those of us who see “education as a practice of freedom”.

CHRONOLOGY

1921 – Born in Recife , Pernambuco , Brazil , Paulo Reglus Neves Freire

1927 – After his parents taught him to read, he began his studies in small private school run by his teacher, Eunice Vasconcelos

1929 – The New York Stock Market Crash drastically affects the Brazilian economy

1929 – The Freire family moves to Jaboatão, Pernambuco, 18 kilometers away from Recife

1934 – His father, whom he loved very much, dies

1937 – Enters the second year of high school, Colégio Oswaldo Cruz (COC), in Recife , being older than his classmates

1943 – Begins the Faculty of Law of Recife (today a part of  the Federal University of Pernambuco – UFPE)

1944 – Marries the elementary school teacher, Elsa Maria Costa Oliveira, to whom he was passionate and dedicated

1944 – Went from student to being a teacher of Portuguese at his old high school, Colégio Oswaldo Cruz

1944 – Enlisted men of the Brazilian armed forces are sent into combat in Italy during the World War II; he was exempt because he was a teacher

1947 – The I National Congress of Adult Education takes place

1947 – Directs the Education and Culture Section of the Industrial Social Services (SESI); during this period, he learned to dialogue with the working class and through practice became an educator

1954/1957 – Becomes superintendent of SESI

1956 – Appointed member of the Education Consultative Council of Recife

1958 – Presents at the II National Congress of Adult Education a report, titled “Adult education and marginal groups: The problem of the mocambos”

1959 – Writes “Education and the Brazilian Reality,” a thesis for a

1961 – Becomes director of the Culture and Recreation division of the Documentation and Culture Department of the Municipality of Recife

1961 – Becomes a tenured professor of the philosophy and history of education in the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters of the University of Recife (now the Federal University of Pernambuco)

1961 – The President of the Republic Jânio Quadros resigns after nearly eight months in office; the military resists handing over the government to the Vice President João Goulart

1961/1962 – Develops the first projects in adult literacy in the municipalities of Angicos ( Rio Grande do Norte) e Mossoró ( Rio Grande do Norte), using the “Paulo Freire Method” of literacy

1962 – In Angicos, he teaches 300 works to read in 45 days

1963 – Develops an adult literacy project in Gama, Federal District , using the “Paulo Freire Method” of literacy

1964 – President João Goulart creates the “National Plan for Adults,” under the coordination of Paulo Freire, the main goals of which were to teach how to read and write, while developing social and political consciousness among 5 million adults, in two years

1964 – Military coup d’état in Brazil

1964 – Is arrested for political reasons for two and a half months

1964 – Goes into exile in Bolivia for a few days, during which a coup d’état occurs in this country, and he goes into a second exile in Chile

1964/1969 – Works in the Institute for Training and Investigation in Agrarian Reform (ICIRA) in the reformulation of the Plan for the Education of the Masses in Chile ; becomes professor at the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile

1967 ­– Publishes his book Education as the practice of liberty

1969 – Is offered a position by both Harvard University and the World Council of Churches in Geneva ; he decides to go to Harvard where he stays for tem months

1970 – Publishes his book Pedagogy of the oppressed

1970 – Moves to Geneva to work as a consultant to the Department of Education of the World Council of Churches

1971 – Paulo Freire and some friends found the Institute of Cultural Action (IDAC)

1975/1977 – With his team from IDAC contributes to the development of the National Literacy Program of Guiné-Bissau

1975/1978 – Works as a militant educator for the cause of the liberation of the oppressed in São Tomé e Príncipe

1979 – The President of the Republic of Brazil João Baptista Figueiredo sanctions a law that gives amnesty to political exiles

1980 – After 16 years of exile, he returns to his country, starting a new stage of his life, as he says, “to relearn Brazil ”

1980 – Begins teaching at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP)

1980/1990 – Professor at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP)

1984 – Diretas Já – National movement for the re-democratization of Brazilian politics

1986 – Elsa Maria Costa Oliveira dies

1986 – Receives the UNESCO “Education for Peace” prize in Paris , France

1988 –  Marries Ana Maria Araújo Freire, his second wife

1989 – The first direct presidential election since the coup of 1964

1989 – Becomes Secretary of Education of the City of São Paulo in the administration of the Mayor Luiza Erudina de Sousa of the Workers Party (PT)

1990/1993 – As Secretary of Education proposes and implements Literacy Movement of the City of São Paulo (MOVA-SP)

1992 – Publishes Pedagogy of Hope, re-encounter with the pedagogy of the oppressed

1996 – Publishes his last book, Pedagogy of Autonomy: Necessary knowledge for educational practice.

1997 – Paulo Freire dies.  In his words, “...by making teaching an instrument of my life, I end up transforming teaching at the end of my life”