Our story begins in 1947,
in Cuba, an island in the Caribbean.
A young woman dressed in almost all white,
down to her white patent leather shoes,
won a talent contest.
Her name was
Úrsula Hilaria Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso.
Today she is known as Celia Cruz.
Contest after contest made her extremely popular,
and she performed extensively in La Habana.
By the 1950s she had become the main singer
of La Sonora Matancera,
one of the most popular Cuban bands.
She later became “La Reina de la Salsa,”
“The Queen of Salsa.”
She was very successful at a young age in Cuba.
But because of the political circumstances of her home country,
she was forced to leave and to live in exile.
Fidel Castro’s dictatorship in Cuba started in 1959.
His government placed restrictions on daily life and on the arts.
Celia Cruz was opposed to this form of government.
She later told a story
of how at one of her last performances in Cuba
she was asked to sing the song “Burundanga.”
As it turns out,
this was one of Fidel Castro’s favorite songs.
She refused to perform the song, and sang another one.
And when she was told that she would not be paid for the performance,
she replied:
“If I have to belittle myself
to make money,
I’d rather not have any.”
After Celia left Cuba in 1960 for a tour in Mexico,
Castro banned her from returning.
She was not able to set foot on the island for another 30 years.
In 1990 she performed at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay.
She always carried with her the music of her youth and home.
And she was also always innovating.
Her concerts in Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa,
and Latin America were often sold out.
And it was at these concerts,
through her albums,
and even in the movies,
that she was introducing people to salsa music.
Remember, she was the “Queen of Salsa.”
She was also a trailblazer,
and she was one of the few women who was part of Fania Records.
And this meant that she was working with
other great salsa and Latino musicians including
Johnny Pacheco,
Willie Colón,
and Tito Puente.
She not only had these collaborations with salsa musicians,
but also with non-salsa musicians including
David Byrne and Patti LaBelle.
She even reworked Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic
“I Will Survive.”
As artist Alexis Rodríguez-Duarte has said,
Celia “brought people home.”
With her music and her calling of “Azúcar!”
she also reached all Latinos who embraced salsa.
Through Celia Cruz’s music and voice,
her ornate outfits
and the stories of her life,
we can tell a more complex history.
We can also see how one woman’s story
can have a significant impact.
Celia’s life and story have also helped shape the way
that we see Afro-Latina and Latina women
and how they have chosen to represent themselves.
Our Latina history is American history.