Nísia Floresta Brasileira Augusta, pseudonym of Dionísia Gonçalves Pinto, (October 12, 1810 in Papari, Rio Grande do Norte – April 24, 1885 in Rouen, France) was a Brazilian educator, translator, writer, poet, philosopher, and feminist.

She is considered the "first Brazilian feminist" and possibly the first still in the 19th century to break through public-private boundaries by publishing her works in newspapers, when the local press was just beginning.

She also coordinated a girls' school in Rio de Janeiro and wrote a book in defense of the rights of women, Native Americans and slaves.

Dionísia Gonçalves Pinto was born October 12, 1810 in Papari, in the north eastern province of Rio Grande do Norte.

‘Floresta’ after her parents’ land where she was born, ‘Brasileira’ as a patriotic statement of her identification with the newly independent Brazil, and ‘Augusta’ in homage to her late husband, Manuel Augusto de Faria Rocha.

Her work extends well beyond her free translation of Mary Woolstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman for which she is mostly known (made in 1832 when she was only 22 years of age), and includes poetry, travel writings, and philosophical essays on morality and education.

[2] Manuel Augusto died only seven months after the birth of their second child, leaving Floresta to support herself and two very young children, which she did by teaching.

Then in 1837, Floresta and her family moved to Rio de Janeiro where she established the Augusto College school for girls, where she taught and published her works for more than ten years.

[1] During this time, she was exposed to Comtean positivism through a History of Humanity course taught by Auguste Comte himself at the Palais Cardinal in Paris.

Her first book, Direitos das mulheres e injustiça dos homens, published in 1832, is accredited with being a pioneer publication in Brazil on women's rights, especially dealing with education and work.

Son Conselhos a minha filha (1842), Opúsculo humanitário (1853), where the author condemns the educational training of women, in Brazil and in other countries, and A Mulher (1859) are all examples of this.

[9] In 1841 she published her second book, under the title of Conselhos à minha filha, which was a twelfth birthday present for her daughter Livia.

The author's articles signed with "Quotidiana Fiesole", for example, were found in the newspapers O Recompilador Federal and O Campeão da Legalidade.

Students were taught science, languages, history, religion, geography, physical education, arts, and literature with the intention of fully preparing them for marriage and motherhood.

[15] Floresta also believed that an ignorant population could be more easily manipulated by its government, and that was something she hoped to avoid by advocating for education for marginalized groups.

Another author to address this ambivalence is Branca Moreira Alves, for whom Floresta's feminism contains a romantic view of women where dedication to the family and home is still the guiding expectation.

[17] Floresta suggested several ways to maintain this traditional family system and keep a home, husband, and children in her various works.

After her travels in Europe, however, her second work on the subject was more sharply analytical of the current education system and called for large-scale reform.