Introducing: "Get to Know a Brazilian"

I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I'm finally getting around to doing my own "series" on the blog (similar to Erik's "Forgotten Americans"). Every week, I'll examine somebody different from Brazil's history, from the colonial period to the present day. (And I only exclude the pre-colonial period due to the fact that, unlike in Mexico and Peru, we don't really have any chronicles of pre-Contact figures, only indigenous groups in broad swaths). These short pieces will look at figures who are famous and relatively unknown, and whose lives had/have an important impact on the political, social, economic, and/or cultural in Brazil. There will be no chronological order - I'll jump around plenty, trying to emphasize different types of people and different aspects of Brazilian history and culture from week to week. I hope to due this every Monday (though dissertation requirements may lead to some missed weeks). Hopefully, this will give people the chance to learn some more about Brazil and its people online from somebody who occasionally knows what he's talking about, and if it doesn't, well, it will be a fun little form of self-importance for me.