Barbosa, Pilar (1898–1997)

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Barbosa, Pilar (1898–1997)

Puerto Rican historian and first woman to teach at the University of Puerto Rico. Born Pilar Barbosa de Rosario on July 4, 1897, in San Juan, Puerto Rico; died at a hospital near her home in San Juan on January 22, 1997; daughter of José Celso Barbosa (founder of the Puerto Rican statehood movement); her mother died when she was quite young; University of Puerto Rico, B.Ed., 1924; M.A., Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1925; married José Ezequiel Rosario (an economics professor), in 1927 (died 1963); no children.

Taught at the University of Puerto Rico (1926–1967); established and headed the history and social sciences department at the university, the first woman to head a department there (1927); collaborated with Dr. Antonio S. Pedreira on a series of articles on the history of Puerto Rico (1937); was president and founder of La Obra de José Celso Barbosa y Alcalá, Inc.; received first of four first prizes from the Puerto Rican Institute of Literature for her book onPuerto Rican autonomism from 1887–97; founded the Historical Society of Puerto Rico with Angel Roberto Diaz and Victor M. Gerena (1967); retired from the university (1967); received the Golden Book Award for 50 years service to Puerto Rican education (1967); recognized by the University of Puerto Rico as Professor Emeritus (1975); given the U.S. Outstanding Leadership Award by President Ronald Reagan and the National Institute of Education during a White House Ceremony in the Rose Garden (1984); received honorary doctorate from the University of Puerto Rico (1992); appointed Official Historian of Puerto Rico (1993); honored with a plaque for lifetime achievement by the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico (March 1997); installation of an oil painting in the gallery of Outstanding Women under the auspices of the Senate of Puerto Rico (March 1999).

Charismatic, influential and intelligent, Pilar Barbosa de Rosario was revered on the island of Puerto Rico. When she died in January 1997, Governor Pedro Rossello proclaimed a three-day mourning period throughout the nation, and six members of the Legislature stood as an honor guard around her coffin. "She leaves a void difficult to fill," said Luis González Vales, president of Puerto Rico Academy of History. "She taught her students to respect differing opinions, the importance of ducumentation and a commitment to history."

Her father José Celso Barbosa was the founder of the Puerto Rican statehood movement, a precursor of the New Progressive Party. Over the years, Pilar Barbosa insisted that the party of statehood embrace the task of social justice, but she was primarily a teacher, the first woman to join the faculty at the University of Puerto Rico. During her tenure (1926–67), she was responsible for establishing the departments of history and social studies; she also became such a noted authority on Puerto Rico's past that, in 1993, she was named the nation's official historian. Her home was like "an intellectual watering hole," recalled Gonzalo Cordova, a fellow teacher. "You didn't come to drink, but for the conversation." Students, politicians, and officials from the government sought her advice and companionship. When she died at age 99, Barbosa was "the mother confessor to generations of Puerto Rican politicians, scholars and intellectuals," wrote a journalist for The New York Times News Service, "widely regarded as the conscience of the ruling New Progressive Party."