[1][2] She was instrumental in gaining legal recognition of Candomblé and its rituals, bringing an end to centuries of prejudice against Afro-Brazilians, who practiced their faith.
[6][7] Her grand mother, who had baptized her, gave her the nickname as Menininha meaning "Little Girl"[7] She was born into a matriarchal society to Maria da Glória[notes 1] and Joaquim Assunção,[5][6] who were Afro-Brazilian with Yoruba Nigerian royal ancestry[9] from Egba-Alakê in Abeokutá, a kingdom in the southwestern part of Nigeria.
[6] Menininha was initiated into the worship of deities at the Terreiro do Gantois when she was 8 years old by her grandmother Maria Julia da Conceição Nazaré who had built the temple "Ile Iyá Omi Axé Iyamassê".
The elder daughter was Mãe Cleusa da Conceição Nazaré de Oliveira, born in 1923, who was a doctor and who became the inherited Candomblé priestess of the temple after her mother's death.
[7] Her struggle, in association with other well known candomblé priestesses like Stella de Oxossi, asserted the Africanness of Candombé, stressing the fact that their religion was not the same as Roman Catholicism.
[4] One of the reasons she became prominent was that she initiated hundreds of "daughters" into the faith,[13] as well as artists,[14] and invited the academic community to study the roots of the religion.
[15] One of those academics, Ruth Landes compiled her findings and published a book,[16] City of Women (1947) discussing how the racial policies of the government were intertwined with the Candomblé religious rites.
At the special session held in the City Council of Salvador to commemorate her death, Edvaldo Britto, Deputy Mayor; Pedro Godinho, President of the House; her friends; and Mabel Veloso [pt] attended.
Veloso paid a tribute to the mother by highlighting her role as the priestess in leading the resistance and fighting against discrimination and religious faith.