Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa Post Office Building Designation Act

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa Post Office Building Designation Act (Pub.L. 109-253, 120 Stat. 656) designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 100 Avenida RL Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, as the Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa Post Office Building. It was enacted as Public Law 109-253 on August 1, 2006.

José Celso Barbosa (1857 – 1921) was a physician, sociologist, and politician born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, who founded the Puerto Rican Republican Party. He is widely regarded as the father of the "Statehood for Puerto Rico" movement.

1 Legislative history
2 Wikipedia in the Congressional Record
3 H.R. 3440
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Legislative history

The Act was introduced by the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the United States House of Representatives Luis Fortuño on July 26, 2005. It was approved by the House of Representatives on March 28, 2006 and the Senate on July 20, 2006. The President signed the bill on August 1, 2006.

[edit] Wikipedia in the Congressional Record

The "Background" section of the bill, which was updated on March 27, 2006, contains a brief biography of Barbosa which was obtained from the July 30, 2005 version of the Jose Celso Barbosa article written by Tony Santiago for Wikipedia under the username User:Marine 69-71.^[1]This may have been the first time that material from Wikipedia has been deemed important enough to have been included in a U.S. bill

[edit] H.R. 3440

The Bill reads as follows:

H.R. 3440
Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa Post Office Designation Act

Floor Situation

The House is scheduled to consider H.R. 3440 under suspension of the rules on Tuesday, March 28, 2006. The bill is debatable for 40 minurtes, may not be amended, and requires a two-thirds majority vote for passage.

Summary

H.R. 3440 designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 100 Avenida RL Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, as the "Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa Post Office Building."

Background

Barbosa received both his primary and secondary education in Puerto Rico. After graduating from the Seminary, Barbosa tutored private students to save money to attend college. In 1875, he moved to New York to attend prep school where he learned English in a year. His goal in life was to become a lawyer, but after a bout with pneumonia in NYC, his doctor recommended he study medicine rather than law. In 1876, he was admitted to the medical school of the University of Michigan. Barbosa graduated Valedictorian of the class of 1880. He returned to the island where he set up his practice in his native hometown. However, the Spanish government did not recognize Barbosa's medical degree as it was not from one of the prestigious European universities. It took the intervention of the American consul to the island for Barbosa's degree to be recognized. Barbosa was the first person in the entire island with an American medical degree. Barbosa practiced medicine all over the island, and introduced the novel idea of employers paying a fee for the future health care needs of their employees (a very early health insurance system). In 1893, Barbosa founded the first Puerto Rican cooperative and named it "El Ahorro Colectivo". Barbosa was a member of the Autonomous Party led by Román Baldorioty de Castro but left the party because of ideological differences. He formed the pro-statehood Puerto Rican Republican Party on July 4, 1899 as an aftermath of the Spanish-American War in which Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States. He became known as the "Father of the Statehood for Puerto Rico" movement. In 1900, Barbosa became a member of the Executive Cabinet up until 1917 and a member of the Senate from 1917 to 1921. In 1907, he established the newspaper "El Tiempo", the first bilingual newspaper on the island. His daughter Pilar Barbosa would one day become a renowned historian and a political activist who would carry on her father's work. José Celso Barbosa died in San Juan in September 21, 1921. Puerto Rico declared his birthday an official holiday. Barbosa's house in Bayamón was converted into a museum in which many of his awards, certificates, books and other artifacts of interest are exhibited.