JUANA MANSO   

 Born in Buenos Aires on June 26, 1819, Juana Manso is a faithful representative of the demands of the female gender because she defended the education and emancipation of women throughout her life. She was the daughter of a Spanish surveyor, but a supporter of the revolution and a faithful follower of Rivadavia.In 1826 (at age 7), Juana attended the Buenos Aires school for girls in Monserrat, run at that time by the Sociedad de Beneficencia. Around 1840, his family had to go into exile in Montevideo, victim of the Rosario persecution. In this city, Juana began to teach French (at the age of 14 she had already translated two novels into Spanish) and Spanish, thereby contributing to the family economy.

After a while he devised them to put in his house the Ateneo de Señoritas, a school for elite girls. During this period he also published poems in various anti-Rosista newspapers using a pseudonym and met with the group of exiled romantics. Then his family, again for political reasons, had to emigrate to Rio de Janeiro. There Juana met her future husband, a Portuguese violinist with whom she married in 1844. In that same year, Manso published a poetic work, another theatrical, two novels and continued teaching. She also founded a feminist-oriented newspaper, O Journal das Senhoras. In 1853, Juana and her husband ended their relationship, and she decided to return to Buenos Aires, which was experiencing a political climate renewed by the fall of Rosas.She founded the feminist, educational and anti-clerical weekly Album de Señoritas, which was not very successful. He also wrote articles for different media and published several books. In 1859, his friend, the writer José Mármol, introduced him to Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, with whom he shared his ideas about education as a vehicle for literacy and republican construction, and the need for education for the entire population. Sarmiento appointed her director of the Mixed Normal School No. 1, the first school where both sexes shared classrooms, for which Manso was highly criticized and resisted by the most conservative sectors. From 1865, Juana was in charge of the Annals of Common Education Magazine, from which she promoted her ideas on early childhood and popular education, the professionalization of the teaching task, and the spread of republicanism.With the arrival of Sarmiento to the presidency, Juana Manso was able to insert herself much better in the educational field. In 1869 he was part of the National Commission of Schools, from where he promoted the creation of school cooperators and promoted the end of pedagogies based on the punishment of children, in addition to collaborating in the founding of thirty schools.

Juana Manso died in Buenos Aires on April 24, 1875. She was a fighter who faced the social conventions of her time, which meant that recognition for her talent and work came to her after her death. Sarmiento always respected, admired, and paid her a just tribute in 1881. Much later, in 1967, a postage stamp with her image was issued and several schools today bear her name.

To honor this standard-bearer of education, we share images of one of her plays: The May Revolution of 1810. Historical Drama, which is part of the collection of the National Historical Museum library. The work was published for the first time in 1864.

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