Based on post-structural feminist and gender studies, the present article analyses the importance given to the practice of physical education, sports and exercise as part of the national policy to strengthen the Caucasian-Brazilian population at the beginning of the twentieth century, emphasising the priority made of the White female body as the most important instrument in strengthening the so called "White race". All the editions of the "Revista Educacao Physica", the first magazine published specifically for physical education and sport in Brazil, was the primary research source. Other books, manuals, reviews from scientific congresses and official publications from the Brazilian Government at the time were also examined. Via the technical analysis of the contents of the aforementioned publications, it was possible to conclude that the Brazilian nationalist discourse at the time sought what was called the "refinement of the White race" by strengthening its women while, at the same time, systematically ignoring Black women. (Contains 1 note.)