Abstract: Graça Machel has been active in Mozambican and international politics for decades, primarily working on women’s rights, children and war, and education policy. She married Samora Machel in 1975, as he became president of Mozambique when it gained its independence from Portugal. She was first lady in Mozambique while also serving as Mozambique’s Minister of Education from 1975 until 1989. After Samora’s death in 1986 she wrote a report on the impact of war on children for the United Nations and served in leadership positions for non-profit organizations. In 1998 she married Nelson Mandela when he was president of South Africa and was widowed a second time in 2013. While she is known for her two marriages, many of her international achievements were made between those marriages and after she was widowed a second time.