This blog post is the fifth and final in a series highlighting the work of the 2024 Charles F. Kettering Global Fellows for Advancing Inclusive Democracies. CFK Global Fellows is an initiative of the Democracy around the Globe focus area with the goal of fostering an international community of partners to promote and defend inclusive democracies.

When visiting Dayton for meetings last July, CFK Global Fellow for Advancing Inclusive Democracies Jessica Tavares shared a source of inspiration for her work. In 1968, Tavares’s grandmother Delfina Maria de Jesus Cerqueira brought together the children in Poções, the rural community where she lived in the eastern Brazilian state of Bahia, and taught them to read. The makeshift primary school that she set up in her home filled a gap because even though access to education was a constitutional right, there was no local infrastructure to provide it. Decades later, it is not unusual for Tavares to have people approach her and tell stories of how her grandmother helped them gain the skills needed to leave the favela. Her grandmother’s work inspired her. And Tavares grew to see her grandmother’s work as political, as democracy in action.

Brazil has one of the highest levels of inequality in the world and, as in the United States and other countries, White families have 1.5–2 times the wealth of Black and Brown families. Black Brazilians are underrepresented in politics as well. Black women in particular have been struggling for representation and presence in government bodies for generations. Even with legislated gender quotas requiring a percentage of Black women to hold seats, the number of women in official positions is minimal, particularly when compared to the overall Black population.

Tavares began focusing more on greater inclusion and equity for Black women while working as a researcher at the Center for Racial Justice and Law at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation. In her fellowship project, she saw an opportunity to lift up the often-untold stories of the Black women who have been central to the efforts of building a more inclusive society. When she initially imagined her fellowship project, she envisioned a myriad of campaigns but soon realized that her limited time would be better spent by focusing on a singular product, a film.

So Tavares set out to capture the stories of the Black women around her. She wanted to elevate their stories and their voices and frame their efforts as essential democratic work. She talked with influential Black women in official positions, women in advocacy, and women thought leaders. She also interviewed everyday women. With her grandmother as a strong example of democracy in action, Tavares knew that “it is these everyday leaders—heads of households, mothers, grandmothers, community leaders—who, despite limited resources, transform our realities and, consequently, our future. Overcoming society’s blindness to their contributions is crucial for change.”

The film, A Piece of Advice for Democracy, is the result of Tavares’s efforts. It captures not only the voices of Black women, living and deceased, but also their faces. The work draws viewers in and is an invitation to sit back and listen. At the time of this posting, Tavares is finalizing the film and preparing for a series of conversations with civil society organizations to work on the issues of political representation and the promotion of racial equity.

As a reminder to all of us, Tavares states, “We must not close our eyes to what we cannot see.” We must seek out the voices that are not being heard.

Lisa Boone-Berry is the content development specialist for Democracy around the Globe.

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The Charles F. Kettering Global Fellowship for Advancing Inclusive Democracies is a six-month program designed to promote leadership in global civil society and to nurture and support those working to build inclusive democracies around the world.