José Celso Barbosa

José Celso Barbosa

José Celso Barbosa (born July 27, 1857 in Bayamón , Puerto Rico , † September 21, 1921 in San Juan , Puerto Rico) was a physician, sociologist and political leader. He was the first mixed-ethnic student in Puerto Rico's prestigious Jesuit seminary.

Life

After attending the seminar, he worked as a tutor for private school students to earn money for college. In 1875 he moved to New York City , where he learned English within a year. He originally wanted to be a lawyer, but after suffering from pneumonia in New York, his doctor advised him to study medicine rather than law. In 1876 he joined the University of Michigan Medical School . In 1880 he completed his studies as the best of his year with a doctorate.

He then returned to Puerto Rico, where he opened a practice in his hometown. However, the Spanish government did not recognize his doctorate because it was not from one of the prestigious European universities. It was only through the intervention of the American consul that he received the necessary recognition. Barbosa was the first doctor with an American title on the island. Practicing all over the island, he introduced the new idea that employers should pay a fee for their employees for future medical care (a very early system of health insurance ).

In 1893 Barbosa founded the first Puerto Rican cooperation and named it El Ahorro Colectivo . He was a member of the Autonomous Party of Román Baldorioty de Castro , but left the party because of ideological differences. In response to the Spanish-American War , in which Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States , he formed the Puerto Rican Republican Party on July 4, 1899 , which campaigned for the recognition of the island as a state, and thus became the father of this movement known.

From 1900 to 1917 he was a member of the executive cabinet and was then a member of the Senate until 1921 . In 1907 he founded the newspaper El Tiempo , the first bilingual newspaper on the island. His daughter Pilar Barbosa later continued his work as a historian and political activist. After his death in 1921 he was buried in the Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in Old San Juan.

In his honor, Puerto Rico declared his birthday, July 27th, an official holiday. His house in Bayamón is now home to a museum displaying his awards, certificates, books and other artifacts. On July 20, 2006, the House of Representatives approved the Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa Post Office Building Designation Act to name the US Post Office building at 100 Avenida RL Rodriguez in Bayamón after him. On August 1 of the same year, US President George W. Bush signed what is now Public Law 109-253.

Web links

Commons : José Celso Barbosa  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography (spanish)