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.
Early life Maria Antonia Josefina Barceló Bird was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, the daughter of lawyer and politician Antonio Rafael Barceló and Maria Georgina "Josefina" Bird Arias.Carmen Delgado Votaw, Puerto Rican Women: Some Biographical Profiles (National Conference of Puerto Rican Women 1978): 26-27. Her paternal grandfather, Jaime José Barceló Miralles, was an immigrant to Puerto Rico from Palma, Majorca; 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.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."Don Antonio R. Barceló murió a las 8:11 de mañana ayer" El Mundo (October 16, 1938): 1. 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.Juan Jose Nolla-Acosta, Puerto Rico Election Results, 1899-2012 (Lulu.com 2013): 85.
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 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.Matthew Andrew Wasniewski, Albin Kowalewski, Laura Turner O'Hara, Terrance Rucker, eds., Hispanic Americans in Congress, 1822-2012 (Government Printing Office 2013): 596. Anna Giaritelli, "Puerto Rico officials will lobby Congress for statehood" Washington Examiner (July 10, 2017).
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."Asamblea Legislativa homenajea a 12 mujeres ilustres" El Nuevo Dia (March 6, 2014). There is a public elementary school named for Josefina Barceló, at Bayamón, Puerto Rico.Información: Escuela Josefina Barcelo.
See also
List of Puerto Ricans History of women in Puerto Rico
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