Josefina Barceló Bird de Romero
[This name uses Spanish marriage naming customs; the first two are the maiden family name ''"Barceló Bird"'' and the second or matrimonial family name is ''"Romero"''.] (February 14, 1901 — April 15, 1979) was a Puerto Rican civic leader and politician, leader of the
Liberal Party of Puerto Rico after the death of her father
Antonio Rafael Barceló in 1938. She is one of the twelve women honored with a plaque in "La Plaza en Honor a la Mujer Puertorriqueña" (Plaza in Honor of Puerto Rican Women), in
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to:
* San Juan, Puerto Rico
* San Juan, Argentina
* San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines
San Juan may also refer to:
Places Arge ...
.
Early life
Maria Antonia Josefina Barceló Bird was born in
Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Fajardo () is a town and a municipality part of the San Juan-Caguas-Fajardo Combined Statistical Area in Puerto Rico.
Fajardo is the hub of much of the recreational boating in Puerto Rico and a popular launching port to Culebra, Vieques, and ...
, the daughter of lawyer and politician Antonio Rafael Barceló and Maria Georgina "Josefina" Bird Arias. Her paternal grandfather, Jaime José Barceló Miralles, was an immigrant to Puerto Rico from
Palma, Majorca
Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of M ...
; her maternal grandfather, Jorge Bird León, was a sugar manufacturer. Josefina Barceló Bird finished her education at the College of the Sacred Heart, a convent school in
Kenwood, Albany, New York
Kenwood was a hamlet in the Town of Bethlehem, New York. The hamlet spanned both sides of the Normans Kill near the area where the Normans Kill flows into the Hudson River. In 1870, and again in 1910, northern portions of Kenwood were annexed by ...
.
[José Luis Colón González]
"Josefina Barceló de Romero: de sufragista anónima a 'jefa liberal'"
''Asociación Puertorriqueña de Investigación de Historia de las Mujeres''.
Career
After literate Puerto Rican women gained the vote in 1929, Josefina Barceló de Romero worked on woman-to-woman voter education efforts in San Juan, and she was active in the women's organization of the Liberal Party. Among her responsibilities was arranging childcare, meals, and transportation for new women voters. She joined the Central Board of the Liberal Party in 1936. Josefina Barceló Bird de Romero was elected president of the Liberal Party after her father died in 1938. She was the first woman elected to lead a major political party in Puerto Rico. She continued to hold leadership positions in the party until she resigned and the party dissolved in 1948.
She ran unsuccessfully for an at-large Senate seat in 1944.
Personal life and legacy
Josefina Barceló Bird married Antonio Romero Moreno in 1918. They had three children (Gloria, Calixto, Carlos) and also raised Antonio's nephew. Her son
Carlos Romero Barceló
Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...
was elected mayor of San Juan in 1968, and later served as Governor of Puerto Rico; in 2017, he was appointed shadow senator representing Puerto Rico in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
.
Josefina Barceló de Romero died in 1979, aged 77 years. She is one of the twelve women honored with a plaque in the "Plaza en Honor a la Mujer Puertorriqueña" (Plaza in Honor of Puerto Rican Women) in San Juan. There is a public elementary school named for Josefina Barceló, at
Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Bayamón (, ) is a Bayamón barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in Puerto Rico. Located on the northeastern coastal plain, it is bounded by Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Guaynabo to the east, Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, Toa A ...
.
Información: Escuela Josefina Barcelo
See also
*List of Puerto Ricans
This is a list of notable people from Puerto Rico which includes people who were born in Puerto Rico (Borinquen) and people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent. Puerto Rican citizens are included, as the governm ...
*History of women in Puerto Rico
The recorded history of Puerto Rican women can trace its roots back to the era of the ''Taíno'', the indigenous people of the Caribbean, who inhabited the island that they called ''Borinquen'' before the arrival of Spaniards. During the Span ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barcelo Bird de Romero, Josefina
People from Fajardo, Puerto Rico
20th-century Puerto Rican politicians
Puerto Rican party leaders
20th-century Puerto Rican women politicians
1901 births
1979 deaths