Heloneida Studart was born in Fortaleza, Ceará, on 9 April 1932. Her parents were Edite Studart and Vicente Soares. She was a descendant of the historian Baron of Studart on her maternal side, and the abolitionist leader and famous geographer Antonio Bezerra de Menezes on her paternal side.

On 30 November 1934, Luíza Erundina de Sousa was born on the outskirts of the village of Belém do Rio do Peixe (today the city of Uiraúna) in the interior of Paraíba.