Bernardo De Galvez, the Portrait Lady and a Congressional Promise
Teresa Valcarce ensured that we followed through on a promise made more than 230 years ago between Bernardo de Galvez and the Continental Congress.
By Beatriz Perret
Bernardo de Galvez and the Portrait Lady
Known as the “Portrait Lady” in Congress, Teresa Valcarce led the quest to fulfill a Continental Congress Resolution that was 231 years overdue. Turns out, it was harder than she initially thought.
Teresa was born and raised in Spain and became a U.S. citizen in 2007. Years later, she read an article that reported on an unkempt promise the Continental Congress had made to honor Bernardo de Gálvez by hanging his portrait in the room where Congress convened, and took on the task to see the promise carried through.
A Historic Journey with Bernardo de Galvez
First, she called the office of the official Senate historian, which dug up the resolution. She proceeded to occupy her spare time researching the portrait and getting people who would listen fired up about it. Among them, Senator Bob Menéndez.
After months of work and even commissioning a portrait of Gálvez (copy of a private collection one in Spain), Teresa participated in the unveiling of the painting on the west wall of S-116, a room the Senate Foreign Relations Committee uses to host official coffees with heads of state.
A portrait of General Bernardo de Galvez is being unveiled
Bernardo de Gálvez served as governor to the Spanish-controlled Louisiana during the American Revolutionary War. During his tenure, he defeated the British Army in Pensacola (West Florida) and allowed colonial troops to access the Mississippi River as a critical supply line. Thanks to Teresa’s conviction of giving credit where credit is due, on December 16, 2004, the U.S. Congress awarded Gálvez an honorary citizenship.
When she is not thinking about more ways to further connect Spain and the US, Teresa works at the Center for the Child Care Workforce, A Project of the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation. In addition, she produces a weekly newsletter for Spaniards in DC that currently has over 800 subscribers.
She has been featured over 200 times on multiple major media in both the US and Spain, including a Telemundo EMMY-award winning coverage.
Read more about Bernardo de Galvez and Teresa's story:
- LA Times “Congress is urged to honor little-known Revolutionary War hero.”
- Washington Post “A picture of persistance in honoring a Spanish hero of the Revolutionary War.”
Born and raised in Venezuela, Beatriz Perret manages the digital platform of IQ Latino.This Hispanic Heritage Month, she launched a campaign to learn about 31 Hispanics who have done great contributions to the U.S, proving that immigrants get the job done!
This article was originally posted on IQ Latino and can be viewed here.
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