Every July 27, Puerto Rico commemorates the birth of Dr. José Celso Barbosa—an Afro-Puerto Rican physician, educator and political leader born in Bayamón in 1857.

Barbosa overcame racial and economic barriers to study medicine in the United States, graduating as valedictorian of the University of Michigan Medical School in 1880. After returning to Puerto Rico, he devoted much of his medical work to poor and Black communities and became an influential figure in the island’s civic and political history.

Today, his legacy remains an important part of Puerto Rico’s medical, political and cultural story.

Source: Michigan Medicine — https://www.michiganmedicine.org/medicine-michigan/puerto-rico-u-m-medical-school

Photo credit: Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)