She was hanged for leading "El rebombori del pa" (The Bread Revolt), a protest that took place toward the end of the 18th century following an increase in the price of this most basic of foods. Known as La Negreta, she organised the neighbourhood to stand up to the abuse of the bourgeoisie, which, with the price of bread, made it even more difficult for the lower classes to subsist. She succeeded: around 8,000 people took to the streets and forced a halt to the price hikes. The reprisals for the revolt, however, led to her and five others being arrested and executed. The sentence was carried out not far from the present-day Plaça de Catalunya, and the neighbourhood refused to attend in protest. About a year ago, the Barcelona nomenclature committee approved the inclusion of Josefa Vilaret as a new street name. As of this March, Carrer del Duc, in Ciutat Vella, will bear the name of a woman who fought and died to combat injustice and inequality.
She was executed by hanging because of her leadership of the uprising known as the ‘El rebombori del pa’, which protested the price increase of bread, a basic foodstuff, in the late eighteenth century.