Mestre Bimba (1900-1974) was less than 12 years old when he started to learn Capoeira with an African man called Bentinho. After 4 years of learning, Mestre Bimba started to teach.

In 1932 he opened the first school of Capoeira recognized by the Brazilian authorities and in 1936 organized the first demonstration of Capoeira.
However, Capoeira was still heavily discriminated against by upper-class Brazilian society. Its practitioners were seen as devious, stealthy and malicious. In order to change the reputation of Capoeira Mestre Bimba set new standards for the art. His students had to wear clean, white uniforms, show proof of grade proficiency from school, exercise discipline, show good posture, and much more. As a result, doctors, lawyers, politicians, upper-middle-class people, and women (until then excluded) started to join his school, providing Mestre Bimba with legitimacy and support.

A notable example of Mestre Bimba’s influence took place in 1937, when he and his students were invited to perform at an event attended by the Brazilian President Getulio Vargas. Vargas was so impressed with the discipline and devotion of Mestre Bimba’s students that he declared Capoeira the national sport of Brazil.

Mestre Bimba also developed the first codified system of Capoeira techniques and introduced further changes which affect the art even to this day. Because of these changes Mestre Bimba was, and continues to be, a controversial figure within the Capoeira community.
He managed to recover the original values within Capoeira, which were used amongst the black slaves centuries before him. For him, Capoeira was a fight, but "competition" should be permanently avoided since he believed it was a "cooperation" fight, where the stronger player was always responsible for the weaker player and should help him to excel in his own fighting techniques.

Mestre Bimba fought all his life for what he strongly believed was best for Capoeira and succeeded.