Ivone Lara and the early days of social work in Brazil: lessons for the present
The article presents the pathway of a pioneer ‐ black Brazilian social worker Dona Ivone Lara ‐ as a starting point for establishing some mediations that allow for an understanding of the ethno-racial issue in social work in Brazil. The first part of the article briefly describes Ivone Lara’s career pathway and the second sets out some reflections on the permanence of the ethno-racial issue within social work in Brazil, as evidenced by the invisibility of black women within the profile of the profession. The article reaffirms the importance of revealing the dominant racial ideology in Brazil that shaped the genesis of social work. If the ethno-racial debate is fundamental to the understanding of Brazilian societal formation, it is important to understand how social work has dealt with the theme along its trajectory.