The first National Meeting of Black Women (Portuguese: I Encontro Nacional de Mulheres Negras, I ENMN) took place between 2 and 4 December 1988, in Valença, Rio de Janeiro, with the participation of 450 women from 17 Brazilian states. The Encontro Nacional resulted from a great impulse to organize among black women, mainly the fluminenses, who already prepared the I Encontro Estadual de Mulheres Negras of Rio de Janeiro, in 1987.
The Encontro Estadual represented a mark in the feminist movement guaranteeing that only black women participated in the event, created the opportunity for constituting an "introspective organisation". That posture was challenging not only in front of some sectors of the feminist movement, as well as of traditional leaders of the black movement. Even with the caused tension, it was imperative that black women constituted their expressing spot in an independent way. The meeting, that occurred in the Brazilian city of Nova Iguaçu, counted with a considerable participation of state black women.
As a medium for the organisation of the Encontro Estadual, the fluminense black women also participated in the IX Encontro Nacional Feminista, in Garanhuns (PE). After a long road trip and the challenges imposed by the lack of resources, already in a first moment, they could note the racial thematic was not in the main subjects of the event. As Sandra Bello tells, the class question was present in the meeting, because many feminists didn't accept the active participation of black women with a profile related to the suburban and to the favelas. Also, these women represented a rupture with the eurocentric feminist vision, through which white feminists "defined the quotas of participation of black women in the Meetings".
Versing about the preparation process of I ENMN, Joselina da Silva recognises that the IX Encontro Nacional Feminista made the responsibility of black women of Rio de Janeiro in relation to the enacting of the state event appear, while the same became part of the organisation of the Encontro Nacional that would unite Brazil's black women. As a participant of the organisation of the national event, Joselina highlights the high level of difficulty, both in financial, political and cultural aims, considering that the organising commission was integrated by women of different movements and day-to-day life experiences.
During the preparations for the national event, reunions followed gathering an ever greater participation of more Brazilian states, getting the presence of nine states in the reunion at São Paulo. In these occasions several organisational aspects and two commissions were created, one executive and one organisational. The Executive Commission was in charge of fourteen black women from Rio de Janeiro, elected by direct and secret vote. The Organisational Commission was formed by the States present in the national reunions. At the same time, several public activities were organised to offer divulgation and visibility to the Meeting, as well as a course for the selection of the visual identity of the event.
Joselina da Silva highlights that one of the problems found in the consecution of the national event was the place of its enaction, based in the available money. In respect to the difficulty found by the Executive Commission to find a place where the event could be enacted, there was chosen a hotel where the activities would take place; while others scattered around the city of Valença would guard the participants and their families. During the meetings that culminated in this first meeting at a national level, the organisers were able to bring to the discussion and listen to the demands of black women from the most diverse regions of the country and socioeconomic realities. During the meeting itself, black women found a space to fulfill their specific, everyday demands, derived from the intersectionality between, mainly, gender, race and class. If, on one hand, they could show the falsity of the abolition of slavery, in its centenary; on the other hand, also would denounce the domestic violence suffered by black women.