In 1969 he was a visiting scholar at Harvard University and then moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he assumed the role of special educational adviser to the World Congress of Churches. Following the military coup d'etat of 1964, he was jailed by the new government and eventually forced into a political exile that lasted fifteen-years. He subsequently became active in adult education and workers' training, and became the first Director of the Department of Cultural Extension of the University of Recife (1961-1964).įreire quickly gained international recognition for his experiences in literacy training in Northeastern Brazil. After a brief career as a lawyer, he taught Portuguese in secondary schools from 1941-1947. Born in Recife, Brazil, on September 19, 1921, Freire died of heart failure in Sao Paulo, Brazil on May 2, 1997. Following the military coup d'etat of 1964, he was jailed by the new government and eventually forced into a political exile that lasted The Brazilian educator Paulo Freire is among most the influential educational thinkers of the late 20th century. Freire quickly gained international recognition for his experiences in literacy training in Northeastern Brazil. He subsequently became active in adult education and workers' training, and became the first Director of the Department of Cultural Extension of the University of Recife (1961-1964). The Brazilian educator Paulo Freire is among most the influential educational thinkers of the late 20th century.

Author of pedagogy of the oppressed