Dr. José Celso Barbosa Alcalá was a physician, polemicist, humanitarian, politician, and publisher. He was born in 1857 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and he was the first afro-latino to attend and graduate from Puerto Rico’s Seminario Conciliar de San Ildefonso (1875). He attended Fort Edward Collegiate Institute in New York (1876), but was denied admission into Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (1877). He obtained his MD (1880) from the University of Michigan finishing as valedictorian, becoming the first Afro – Puerto Rican/Afro-Latino to obtain a MD in the US.
Upon his return to Spanish-controlled PR, his non-European MD initially was not recognized. He continued serving poor and Black communities across PR. He would go on to establish Puerto Rico’s first healthcare insurance program, which allowed employers to pay the premiums for their workers. Starting in 1883, José formed or joined many political parties advocating for autonomy from Spain, and he worked as a Red Cross member helping wounded soldiers during the Spanish-American War. Dr. Barbosa created El Ahorro Colectivo, which was PR’s first cooperative (1893-1898). Briefly, he taught medicine, anatomy, and history at the Ateneo Cientifico y Literario (1894).
Considered the “Father of Puerto Rican Statehood Movement”, one organization that he founded was the Puerto Rican Republican Political Party (1899). He served on four different presidents’ Executive Cabinets (1900-1917), and he was a member of the 1st Puerto Rican Senate from 1917 until he died in 1921. Additionally, he established and published Puerto Rico’s first bilingual newspaper called the “El Tiempo”. He published many articles on political and social reforms, civil rights, and universal suffrage in his lifetime.
References:
- https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jose-barbosa-1857-1921/
- https://www.wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/fort-edward/
- https://enciclopediapr.org/content/jose-celso-barbosa/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20201210035940/https://www.puertorico.com/attractions/museums/dr-jose-barbosa/
- https://www.pr51st.com/dr-jose-celso-barbosa/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20170630020757/http://www.oslpr.org/v2/PDFS/bbook-es.pdf
