Assignment 1b

Paulo Freire was born September 19, 1921 in Brazil. He was a child in 1929 living in poverty during the Great Depression. Freire says that poverty and hunger affected his ability to learn and this was the reason that he dedicated his life to improving the lives of the poor. He and his family later turned there lives around and got themselves out of poverty.

He was a lawyer for a brief amount of time and later taught Portuguese at secondary schools. He became active in adult education and workers' training, and was the first person to become Director of the Department of Cultural Extension of the University of Recife. He became recognized all over the world for his literacy training and his theories of education.

In 1964, a military coup brought everything to a halt, and Freire was imprisoned for 70 days and then exiled for his "subversive" activities. This was the time that he began his first text. Paulo Freire died of heart failure on May 2, 1997. He left behind a legacy of hopeful texts that continue to have a huge impact on educational theory.

Works Cited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Freire
http://mingo.info-science.uiowa.edu/~stevens/critped/freire.htm
http://www.education.miami.edu/ep/contemporaryed/Paulo_Freire/paulo_freire.html