Born into a Methodist family, she received a scholarship to study in Brazil, where she corresponded with Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1954, Rodrigues moved with her mother and siblings to the capital Luanda and lived with her aunt Maria da Silva, in the same house as her son, the poet Agostinho Neto, who went on to become the first president of Angola.

[5] Rodrigues's work with the MPLA led her into conflict with the Portuguese authorities, particularly the Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado (PIDE, transl.

Rodrigues fled to Brazil, where she began attending the Chácara Flora Methodist Institute in São Paulo on scholarship, studying sociology and exchanging letters with American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.[4][5] Rodrigues, who spoke English, French, German, Kimbundu, and Portuguese, corresponded with King in English, discussing with him various strategies for advancing the Angolan independence movement, including the use of symbolic leadership figures to represent it.

[6][7] In 1960, fearing that her arrest warrant would lead to her deportation from Brazil following a proposed Brazilian-Portuguese extradition treaty, Rodrigues moved to the United States, this time studying at Drew University.

[6] Rodrigues spent some time in Conakry, Guinea, in 1962 before departing for Léopoldville, Congo-Léopoldville, where many Angolan refugees had taken up residence and the MPLA had established political and military committees.

In October 1963, the government of Congo-Léopoldville, which was sympathetic to the FNLA, expelled the MPLA, forcing them to relocate in November to Brazzaville, in neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville.

She also taught and organized literacy classes; traveled abroad to advocate for the acceptance of Angolan international students in Bulgaria, Austria, and the Soviet Union; and hosted an MPLA radio program entitled A Voz de Angola Combatente (transl.

[14] Rodrigues's writings from the time expressed frustration at the culture of misogyny within the MPLA, her perceived invisibility as a woman in the independence movement, and the prejudice she faced for her lack of domesticity.

The underdeveloped world exists and is there, fighting in Angola, Vietnam, Latin America ... Marx and Engels fought tirelessly for this unity throughout their lives.

[18][19]In 1966, Rodrigues relocated to the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, where she joined the Esquadrão Kamy, a unit consisting of several hundred men and five women[b] trained by Cuban internationalists in the principles of guerilla warfare.

[27] According to historian Vasco Martins, she is viewed alongside Agostinho Neto and Augusto Ngangula as "encapsulat[ing]... the standard of behavior and civic conduct" desired by the MPLA, which has governed Angola since 1975.

[30] Some Angolan women have criticized the 2 March date, feeling unrepresented by figures such as Rodrigues due to her ties to the ruling MPLA.

[31] Rodrigues's diary was published posthumously under the title Diário de um Exilio sem Regresso (transl.