Afro-Latinidad: Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz en el año 1957

Créditos fotográficos: Wikimedia Commons

Celia Cruz was a well-known Afro-Latina icon. Cruz was born in Havana, Cuba in the 1920s and grew up very poor. Cruz’s voice showed richness to those around her, which eventually led to her fame. 

The artist also will be the first Latina to appear in a U.S. quarter.

In the 1950’s the queen of salsa was the lead singer of La Sonora Matancera. After arriving in Estados Unidos, Cruz successfully made treinta y cuatro álbumes, earned a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, and took home numerous albums.

According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Celia Cruz was born Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso de la Santísima Trinidad. Cruz era la segunda mayor de cuatro hijas y ella recorded her first track in 1948 in Valenzuela. Cruz’s fame grew in the 1950s and she moved out of Cuba during the Cuban Revolution.

Celia Cruz had been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards and took home three. In 2016 Cruz received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Lifetime Achievement awards are awarded to “performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording”.

A través de los llamativos disfraces y la energía de Cruz, ella nació como artista. She performed in films, performed reggaeton and rumba, becoming a well-known influencer in history and today’s culture. Celia Cruz is still one of the most famous and respected Afro-Latinas in the world.

In 2003, Cruz died from brain cancer. Her viewing attracted thousands of mourners, to mourn the woman who changed history forever. The queen of salsa paved the way for many future Afro-Latinas.