Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was a world-renowned Brazilian education scholar. Perhaps the most influential thinker about education in the late twentieth century, Freire has been particularly popular with informal educators with his emphasis on dialogue and his concern for the oppressed. His legacy of commitment, love and hope to American educators can be found in the critical pedagogy which infuses hundreds of "grass roots" organizations, college classrooms, and most recently school reform efforts in major urban areas. Freire was a prolific writer and author of many books. His most important work was Pedagogy of the Oppressed in which he describes the oppressive mechanisms of a capitalist education.
