All Hail The Queen: How Celia Cruz Changed the Way the World Sees Afro-Latinx People

by Tamara Rose

The eternal queen of salsa, Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso, known to the world as Celia Cruz was born on October 21, 1925 in the working class neighborhood of Santos Suarez in Havana, Cuba. She grew up singing lullabies to younger relatives. Music lived in her. When she was young, she would sneak into cabarets to watch performances. She entered radio talent contests, earned a place at Havana’s national conservatory, and in 1950 became the lead singer of La Sonora Matancera, the most celebrated orchestra in Cuba. Because of her, audiences in the 1950s watched a dark skinned Black woman take the lead in a genre that had long centered white Latinos and she commanded the room.

In 1960 Celia left Cuba after the revolution and became a United States citizen. Though she could never return, Cuba lived inside her. It was part of who she was and is what gave her music its depth.

In the 1970s she joined the Fania All Stars and recorded with Johnny Pacheco and Tito Puente. With classics like Quimbara, she became the face of salsa. Her music introduced the world to Afro-Cuban rhythms rooted in the drums and spiritual traditions that enslaved Africans carried to the Caribbean. 

Latin American cultures, much like American culture, have built their national image on Black culture. However, the Black people at the heart of it get pushed to the margins. Celia Cruz placed Blackness at the front of all she did. She wore her heritage openly, sang Afro Cuban rhythms, and carried herself as royalty. Young Afro-Latinas from Havana to Harlem, from Santo Domingo to San Juan saw a woman that looked like us! She was proud. She never tried to hide and she was receiving standing ovations from presidents and from crowds of millions.

Her honors and accolades tell another part of the story. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987. In 1994 she received the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton. She’s earned Grammys and Latin Grammy awards and sold millions of albums across generations. In 2024, the U.S. Mint placed her image on a quarter in the American Women Quarters program. She is the only Afro-Latina to hold this honor. Mattel released a Barbie in her likeness in 2015. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History houses some of her artifacts.

Celia Cruz embodied joy and power. “Azucar!” started with a server asking her if she wanted her coffee with or without sugar. Since Cuban coffee is naturally very strong and bitter, she playfully replied that as a Cuban, of course she wants it with sugar. She told that story on stage and Azucar became a battle cry of self love and acceptance. Her costumes were glamorous. Her wigs were fierce. You couldn’t ignore her. She was going to be seen and heard and everyone was going to pay attention. Celia Cruz made Black glamour visible to those who rarely saw it. Her sequined gowns, platform shoes, her wigs told millions of Black women that we can take up space, command attention, and own the spotlight. It told the rest of the world to watch and listen. And listen they did. Her legacy is that of a proud Black Cuban woman who, for more than six decades, exuded pride in Afro-Latina pride in every performance. 

So many artists stand on her shoulders. She is a guiding light for Afro-Latinx singers, writers, actors, and performers of all types who got to see themselves in her. Through her representation, conversations in the media, in classrooms, and in homes were happening about Afro-Latinx history. 

Azúcar!