Retired Judge Manuel Barbosa (Courtesy of Manuel Barbosa) Background: (Claire Anderson/Unsplash/Public Domain)
Manuel Barbosa’s life is a rags-to-riches tale that
exemplifies the American Dream. The Dream isn’t perfect, as the
obstacles in Barbosa’s life have shown, but he feels nonetheless that
“It is alive and well.”
In 1948, when Barbosa was 2 months old, his parents crossed the Rio
Grande from Mexico to Texas on a raft. At the age of 5, he started
picking cotton with them to earn 1 cent per pound.
In 1998, he became the first Hispanic bankruptcy judge in the U.S.
Northern District of Illinois. Now retired, he is dedicated to helping
Hispanic youth in his community build faith in themselves.
When Barbosa began school, he couldn’t speak English. He had to
figure it out on his own since his teachers had little help to offer.
When he was 9 years old, he had learned enough English to step in as a
mediator between an English-speaking farm boss and Spanish-speaking
farmhands. They called him “The Lawyer,” a nickname he would
later fulfill in a more literal sense.
In high school and college he faced what he calls the “soft bigotry
of lowered expectations.” His teachers and counselors didn’t encourage
him in his dream of becoming a lawyer. But he doesn’t blame them. He
wasn’t an outstanding student either; he improved his academic
performance gradually.
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