Mãe Preta, Bronze statue in República, São Paulo, Brazil

Mãe Preta is a bronze sculpture on a stone base near Largo do Paiçandu. It depicts an African woman sitting with a distant gaze while nursing a child.

The bronze was made by Júlio Guerra and dated 23 January 1955. It was the winning entry in a public competition for artworks marking São Paulo's Fourth Centenary. The city heritage council CONPRESP listed it in 2004.

The statue shows the forced role of enslaved women as wet nurses for children of white families. This portrayal makes visible the daily reality these women experienced and honors their unseen contributions to the city.

The monument sits between the São Bento and República metro stations, making it easy to reach by public transportation. The nearby Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos offers another site worth visiting in the area.

The sculpture won a public competition held for São Paulo's 400th anniversary celebrations, not a petition campaign. Until 2021 it was the only sculpture of a Black woman in the city, and it became a rallying point for Black movement political and cultural events.