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José Celso Barbosa

“A MaN OF THE PEOPLE”

“We pursue the well-being of our homeland through different paths, but with the same patriotism.”.

-José Celso Barbosa

Artícle by Dr. Luis E. González Vales Official Historian of Puerto Rico

Commemorating illustrious men and women are a means through which to raise aware-ness of the history of a people in present generations. We are presently celebrating—ten days apart—the birthday of two giants of the Puerto Rican political arena. Luis Muñoz Rivera and José Celso Barbosa were contemporaries not only in the times they were des-tined to live, but also in the strife to attain recognition of the capability that we Puerto Ri-cans have to govern ourselves. As political adversaries, Barbosa and Muñoz Rivera were perseverant in their fight to advance their respective ideals. This, however, did not prevent them from doing so while setting an example of civility, friendship and mutual respect which transcended ideological differences. Of the two, Muñoz enjoyed the privilege of belonging to the majority by the final years of the Spanish regime, when the so yearned autonomy became a reality albeit for a brief pe-riod. After the change in sovereignty, the Republican Party was in the majority between 1900 and 1904, the first years of the implementation of the Foraker Act. Even though the House of Delegates was under the reign of republicans, Barbosa was to be one of the 5 Puerto Rican members of the Executive Council by presidential appointment; however, this body was controlled by the 6 Americans who constituted the Governor’s Cabinet. When the Senate was created by virtue of the Jones-Shafroth Act in 1917, Barbosa was elected Senator in a Senate presided by Don Antonio R. Barceló and controlled by the Un-ion Party. This was to be so until his demise. José Celso Barbosa is one of the topmost figures of Puerto Rican politics during the transition between centuries, underscored by the decline of the Spanish reign in Puerto Rico and the rise of the relationship—today, over a century old—with the American Me-tropolis. He led a public life during a period of almost four decades, which range from 1887—year in which he enters the political arena as a delegate for San Juan to the grand Assembly of Ponce in March at the historical Teatro La Perla—to his death in 1921, being the leader of the Republican Party and a Member of the Legislative Assembly. The bibliography on José Celso Barbosa is quite ample. Among these, works deserving special mention are the biography written by Antonio S. Pedreira, Un hombre del Pueblo: José Celso Barbosa (San Juan, 1937) and the major contributions to our historiography made by his daughter, my teacher and immediate predecessor at the Office of the Official Historian of Puerto Rico, Doña Pilar Rosario née Barbosa. The research of Doña Pilar has yielded various volumes related to the work of her father, such as Post Umbra (1937), Cuestiones de Raza (1937) and Orientando al Pueblo (1939), works which compile writings by Barbosa and on Barbosa. A tireless researcher, Doña Pilar left us her history of the development of the Puerto Rican autonomist movement of the late 19th century. To this effort we owe the publication of De Baldorioty a Barbosa (1957); La Comisión Autonomista de 1896 (1957); El Ensayo de la Autonomía (1975); La Historia del Pacto Sagastino (1981); and Manuel F. Rossy y Calderón: ciudadano cabal (1981).

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The biographical study of Pedreira continues to be a must for consultation to know the intimate Barbosa. I remember hearing my teacher say that when she set out to choose an author for such an important task as writing her father’s biography, she didn’t hesitate in choosing Pedreira since, even though his ideas did not coincide with Barbosa’s, she was certain that the integrity of this re-searcher would ensure an objective and well-balanced work. Doña Pilar did not

err in her judgment. At these times when politics are be-smirched by corruption and the lack of values, it is refreshing to remem-ber a person who led his life following the highest moral principles. Aware of the fact that attempting to depict the versatile and influential personal-ity of Barbosa in a few paragraphs is short of impossible, and based on the characterization made of him by Pe-dreira, let us focus our attention on his personality—that is, on the man. After that, we will add some brief thoughts on his ideas. To describe the personality of an individual is one of the most difficult tasks a writer can undertake. Even more so if in doing so, the writer seeks to establish a relation with the environment within which the subject has developed. Pedreira achieves this with utmost mastery. There are three characters which are key in the affective world of Barbosa: Mamá Lucía, Don Hermógenes, and Doña Carmen Alcalá. Pedreira describes them with much affability and re-spect.

José Celso Barbosa is the firstborn of the family raised by Don Hermógenes and Doña Carmen. After having studied at the school of Don Olegario Núñez, when a little older, he was able to enroll in the public school directed by Don Gabriel Ferrer Hernández, who as the years went by, departed for Europe to study medicine. For José Celso, “his example became etched just like a scar in his memory.” The San Ildefonso Council Seminar was the next stage in the formation of Barbosa. While there, Barbosa came face to face with the prejudices of a soci-ety that did not recognize the right of the children of workers to become profes-sionals, and with racial prejudice as well. From Lucía, he learned constancy and perseverance, as well as to “face life without ever fearing hardship.” She also left him her moral fortitude and “that resilience so admirable, which was the greatest of her treasures.”

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Pedreira wrote:

“In a hostile environment, without the loving understanding of his ambitions, provocative and hard, without the distractions of other students, amid ill-intentioned comments and hindrances, denied the right to live the best years of his youth like all other classmates, he studied, unwaveringly, all his courses, having as his only consolation the magnetic and benevolent presence of his Mamá Lucía. His greatest effort was not precisely directed to studying, but rather to enduring (since he could not defeat) the environment of the school.” [our translation]

“With other classmates more like him, he founded a society to hold school

dances, soirées, meetings and to honor its name (La Amistad [lit.: Friendship]) among the young people of his class.” [our translation] This is how Pedreira reveals the organization of a group whose raison d’être was true friendship. Even after having departed for the United States to begin his college studies, he kept occasional correspondence with the group, advising them to pursue union and respect for principles, and he confided to Mamá Lucía that “as long as the Sociedad Amistad persists in its principles, they shall always have a friend in me…” Pedreira’s words are revealing and deserve quoting:

“He had not reached, alas, the age of twenty and yet, his love for principles, to those prin-ciples that later in his venturous political life he was to defend with unflinching valor, was out of his deep conviction.” [our translation] With the support of Mr. José Escolástico Berríos, owner of the San Antonio Sugar Mill, of whose children Barbosa was a tutor, Barbosa departs for the United States on October 19, 1876, to pursue his college studies. Thanks to an unknown doctor who tended to a bout of pneumonia he suffered, Barbosa changed the career in engineering he had planned to undertake for a career in medicine. This decision made, he went to the University of Michigan, where he graduated in medicine on July 1, 1880. After a stay in Washington DC, where he visited clinics and hospitals, he re-turned to Puerto Rico in late October, 1880. His sojourn in the United States instilled in him an admiration for the Republican Government System which he maintained throughout his entire life. When attempting to validate his title, he faced three obstacles: the first, being a working class man; the second, being the first black physician; and third, hold-ing a diploma from an American university. Thanks to the intervention of the U. S. Consul, his title was recognized and he began to practice his profession in San Juan. Gradually, says Pedreira, his seriousness, hard work and scientific knowledge won over the misgivings of his very colleagues and he thus began a successful practice of the medical profession. Very early on in his career, he gave palpable proof of his excellent education and his vocation. He was a physi-cian at the Sociedad de Socorros Mutuos and practiced medicine with a great sense of humaneness. In him, the poor had a professional sensitive to their needs and willing to go above and beyond to seek relief for their physical and

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emotional ailments. Gradually, Barbosa gained way into San Juan high society and won the friendship of people, such as José Gómez Brioso and Manuel F. Rossy, who would stay with him throughout his entire life. Barbosa always set himself apart for his mental and spiritual modesty. A tactful man and knowledgeable of his milieu, he was fully aware of his limitations and of how to fight them. Rossy recounts an anecdote which illustrates one of the principles he never altered until his death. A position as professor of chemistry became vacant in the Professional School, and Governor Luis Dabán offered the position to Dr. Barbosa with the idea of attracting the lib-eral element. Dr. Barbosa thanked the Governor but declined. The Governor, surprised, asked the reason for his refusal, to which Barbosa replied “General, in my face you can see the reason for my refusal.” Barbosa never allowed social prejudices to weaken, for his own personal convenience, the victory of the ideas he stood for. When he was still a student at the Seminar, during one of his many walks through the streets of San Juan, a city for which Barbosa felt great affection, he encountered a group of girls that played, in one of the small town squares, the now forgotten Matarile-rile-ron. The oldest among them, the most clever and prettiest, whom they called Belén, was directing all movements with such grace and style that the future graduate student stopped to gaze at her and said to himself: “That’s certainly the girl I would marry!” Years later, when he was quite the prestigious physician, by intervention of his brother Rafael, he went to visit the sister of Rubén Sánchez, a close friend of Rafael. The young lady was afflicted by severe angina and since she had lost her faith in all other physicians, she ventured to see if the new one would find the cure. Barbosa, to please his brother, that same afternoon went to visit his new client. This young lady was the daughter of Juan Sánchez, an industrialist from Arecibo, and Magdalena Jimé-nez, from San Juan. She had four brothers and three sisters, being the sick young lady the oldest of them all. After having examined her and prescribing medications, he dabbed her throat, ordered some gargling solutions and bade her farewell with an “I’ll be back tomor-

row.” She was the girl that was directing the group of girls playing Matarile-rile-ron. That moment marked the beginning of a relationship that ended in marriage. Belén Sánchez was a woman in the fullest sense of the word and after their marriage, she was by his side in his path through life. Married life went on within a home that was enriched by many chil-dren. Of his eleven children, one, called José Celso, died a year and a half after being born (1905) and the other child by the same name died in 1903 when he drowned in the Bay; he was sixteen years old and was a junior in high school. The remaining offspring reached maturity and became prestigious professionals. Carmen Belén, a pianist, one of the favorite pupils of Ana Otero; Guillermo, a medical surgeon graduated from the University of Michigan; Lucía, a profes-sor; Pedro Juan, a journalist, former director of El Tiempo and years later, a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico—he was the politician in the family; Francisco, an accountant; Roberto, a dental surgeon; Pilar, a college professor and historian; Manuel, a graduate of the School of Journalism of Columbia University; and Rafael, a Harvard

graduate and law degree graduate from the University of Boston.

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Barbosa’s close friend Dr. Gómez Brioso, very knowledgeable of his public and private life, says:

“God bestowed on the doctor the grace of creating an oasis of amiability and good will, comforting amidst the deafening noise of passions, a coffer of virtues, an altar in which all the days of the year are dedicated to holidays, taking refuge in it to enjoy the delicacies in life. It was not a place in the vul-gar sense of the word; it was a temple, a temple of affections in which the robust word and the vigorous demeanor of Dr. Barbosa always imposed the straight line that was to be followed by the elements that guided him to meet his duties as a citizen and as a family man.” [our translation]

There is so much more that could be written about Dr. Barbosa. A distinguished profes-sional, a member of the Athenaeum, a strongly principled politician, a journalist and an autonomist by conviction. But in seeking not to extend myself more than is convenient, I would like however to mention, albeit briefly, some of his ideas concerning relevant issues. In 1898, Commissioner Henry K. Carroll vis-ited Puerto Rico as a special envoy of President William McKinley. Among the many hearings he conducted throughout the island, there are two in which Dr. Barbosa was the deponent. The first one took place on October 28, 1898. At this hearing, Barbosa makes a brilliant synthesis of Puerto Rican politics as they were since his return to Puerto Rico in 1880. When asked about the language issue and which would be the appro-priate policy to follow, he pointed out that Eng-lish should be an official language, but only after a time had elapsed which allowed for the devel-opment of a generation of English speakers, and he argued in favor of establishing certain kinder-gartens. The second hearing was held on October 31, attended by Don Francisco Mariano Qui-ñones, who was accompanied by Barbosa. This hearing focused on political issues and trial by jury. On this last issue, Barbosa stated that he was in favor of its establishment. Contrary to the statements of Don Francisco, Barbosa favored the establishment of a Terri-torial Government as the prelude to statehood. Barbosa was always proud of his race and he was a defender of American institutions. Doña Pilar says:

“Men who like Barbosa are proud of their race and who, in no hurry to evolve, have been able to prevail because of their education and culture, could easily understand the compatibility between Barbosa, colored man and public man, and Barbosa, defender of statehood and American institu-tions.” [our translation]

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In straightforward words, Barbosa defines true superiority in an article for El País of No-vember 29, 1896, where he says:

“Today, superiority is made manifest not by race, not by the greater or lesser amount of coloring matter in the skin; superiority depends on the amount of gray matter, on the intricacy of brain convolutions, of education, of the will, of moral education, of the environment, of intellectual gymnastics, factors which are es-sential for individual and collective superiority.” [our translation]

For Barbosa, the racial problem was above all a social and transitory problem. Doña Pilar says:

“He never advocated racial division or hatred, for this is a problem that, as he very well says: ‘does not exist and cannot exist in the Puerto Rican family, given its origins and its history.’”

He always maintained his stand, and for this reason, Barbosa was always

respected. He was proud of his race; he was prolific in his demonstrations of friendship and affection toward all those who governed, and because of his own talents, he captured the hearts of his fellow citizens.”

From 1900 until his death, Barbosa held office in the Executive Council until 1917 and in the Senate of Puerto Rico from that date until his demise. What few remember is the fact that he was always in the minority. However, this was not an obstacle for him to “preach to his people” at all times during his life and as of the establishment of the new regime until his death in 1921, to follow one single path: the path which consisted of preparing the Puerto Rican people socially, economically and politically to become integrated into the bosom of the American federation as one more state among those constituting the United States of America.” [our translation] I would like to finish this paper with a quote from Barbosa that has not lost its currency. A politician throughout his life, he defined politics as a science, the most transcendental of sciences, since the progress of peoples depends on it.

“‘This is why—he pointed out—[politics] is defined as the science of governing peoples’ and he immediately adds ‘the fact that there are politicians who drift away from this objective and who seek by all possible means to take advantage of poli-tics in the pursuit of riches, does not allow room for making any depressive deductions about politics; [politics] is not responsi-ble for the fact that base ambitions are satisfied under its name, nor of the fact that craftiness, corruption and all sort of means are put by some in the forefront to fulfill dastardly aspi-rations… Politics the science is not to be confused with dastardly politics, which disrupts government instead of seeking govern-ment, contrived for the use and benefit of certain gentlemen to whom it would be most convenient to have the people eternally live in blissful ignorance.’” [our translation] “No están en lo Justo”—Orientando al Pueblo pp. 19-20

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Dr. Luis E. González

Váles Official Historian of Puerto Rico

TEL: 787-724-4306, FAX: 787-977-6369 Email: historiador@oslpr.org

Web: http://www.oslpr.org Copyright 2005. Oficina de Servicios Legislativos.