She filed a complaint with the National Council of Primary Education, which led to widespread media coverage of her treatment, heightening awareness of the racial and gender divides in Uruguayan society.

Embarking on a second career as a writer, Silva traveled widely, published a textbook on chemistry, and earned several awards as a poet.

Born on 3 April 1925 in Artigas, Uruguay, Adelia Silva was the illegitimate daughter of the live-in domestic servant of Julia Bianchi.

[1][2] Silva never knew her father, and her mother was a dependent of the Bianchi family under the patrón system that existed after slavery was abolished in Uruguay.

[1][7] When she arrived at her third post at Public School Nº 16, principal Irene Castro de Mandado told her that parents had submitted a petition for her removal, as they did not want a black woman who spoke Portuñol (a pidgin language combining Spanish and Portuguese, typically spoken by people living in the border area between Brazil and Uruguay)[Notes 2] teaching their children.

[11] After discussing what happened with friends, Silva wrote a letter to the Consejo Nacional de Enseñanza Primaria (National Council of Primary Education) and requested that they conduct an investigation into the situation.

[12] The case attracted national media attention, sparking discussion of the unequal treatment blacks received in the country, contrary to legal protections for equality.

[13] In 1957, the National Council of Primary Education found Ugartemendia guilty of racial discrimination, transferred her from her post, and fined her an amount equal to half of her salary for six months.

In Artigas that year, Semana del Libro (Book Week), an event she helped found and popularize, was named "Maestra Adelia Silva" in her honor.

[1][20] In 1987, her colleagues from the local high school financed the publication of a book Silva co-wrote with Mary Suarez de Simon, a fellow teacher, Hacia el siglo XXI con la química en acción (Towards the 21st Century with Chemistry in Action).

In 2011, the Ministry of Education and Culture financed a project, in conjunction with the International Year for People of African Descent celebrations, for the Municipality of Artigas and the Organizacion Mundo Afro (World Africa Organization), among other groups, to publish Adelia Silva, un legado de luz (Adelia Silva: A Legacy of Light) to honor her memory.