Benedita da Silva (1942). Brazilian politician. Her political career took off when she was elected for the City Council of Rio de Janeiro in 1982, after militating in the Association of Slums of the State of Rio de Janeiro. In 1986 she was elected to the House of Representatives, and was re-elected to the same office in 1990. In 1994 she was elected the first black Senator in Brazil, as a member of PT (Workers’ Party). In 1998 she was elected deputy governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro on Antony Garotinho’s ticket. In 2002 she became the governor of Rio de Janeiro State. She was Minister of Social Action in the Lula Administration, from 2003 to January 2004. Darcy Ribeiro (1922-1997) was born in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais State. He was a Brazilian anthropologist, writer and politician, known for focusing on the indigenous population and on education in Brazil. He devised CIEPs (Integrated Centers of Public Education) when he was Rio de Janeiro State Secretary of Education during the Leonel Brizola administration.