Our story begins in New York City,
on Madison Avenue,
at the peak of the advertising era.
Among the very few women working in this industry,
we found Clotilde Arias.
Now, the reason we should know about Clotilde Arias is because
in 1945 she was commissioned by the State Department to create the first
—and only one, as far as we know—
singable version of the Star-Spangled Banner in Spanish,
called El Pedón Estrellado.
She worked the lyrics—as a musician, you can imagine—
in such a way that it could be sung to the original tune.
She was a very talented pianist who also composed original songs like “Huiracocha.”
What I find so inspiring about Clotilde Arias is her resiliency.
She had to overcome many challenges
—chief among them to provide
for her young son by herself in a new country—
and succeeded in doing so and in living a fulfilling life based on her passion for music.
Clotilde embodies a true trailblazer.
She is among the very first women to break in this male-dominated advertising world.
A composer whose music played on Broadway
she becomes one of the first members of the Association of Music Composers.
She was a single mother and a strong advocate of Pan-Americanism.
She joined the Madison Avenue advertising world to translate
and create new jingles for products that were finding a new market in Latin America.
Let's remember this is during World War II
at a time when the United States was looking at Latin America as a political and commercial ally.
Some of the Spanish-language jingles
that Clotilde composed were listened to on radios throughout Latin America.
Sharing stories like Clotilde’s is an integral part of my job.
As the director of the program in Latino History and Culture at the National Museum of American History,
it is my responsibility and also my pleasure to shed light on stories that help
us understand the complexity and the longstanding lives of Latinx communities
in the United States. Latinx history is American history.