A Girl Named Rosita Flashcards
After days of wobbly decks and stormy seas, a stature of a woman wearing a crown rises up to greet them.
A Girl named Rosita
Out of the cold and away from the noise she returns to a home that isn’t home.
A Girl named Rosita
If she only knew more ingles, she could tell the bullies: Denjenme en Paz!
A Girl named Rosita
Clap Clap Clap
A Girl named Rosita
The music begins. Strum Strum Strum!
A Girl named Rosita
Her palms are sweating as she shakes the hand of the man who can change her life.
A Girl named Rosita
Please, she prays. Anything but Orchid!
A Girl named Rosita
One day she will play an authentic character who is bold, proud, strong.
A Girl named Rosita
Some days she wants to quit. But she’s come too far to give up.
A Girl named Rosita
Run! Out of the schoolyard, past the bullies in the streets.
A Girl named Rosita
Then - Cue the music: Horns, Strings, Percussion!
A Girl named Rosita
A sacred silence descends.
A Girl named Rosita
In a tiny cottage tucked between El Yunque Peak and a wild fragrant rainforest lives a girl: a girl with the rhythm of the rainforest in her feet and the sweetness of the sugarcane fields in her swishing skirts.
A Girl named Rosita
Step, turn, snap-kick, swish, jump, twirl!
A Girl named Rosita
I am taking you first because you are a big girl and you won’t cry.
A Girl named Rosita
Corre! She tells herself each day on her way home from school.
A Girl named Rosita
Run! So the bullies don’t catch you.
A Girl named Rosita
Out of the cold and away from the noise, she returns to a home that isn’t home.
A Girl named Rosita
Pronto, pronto!
A Girl named Rosita
Leave me alone!
A Girl named Rosita
Is leaving behind her native Spanish like letting go of her native island and all the things she loves?
A Girl named Rosita
Day after day, she practices until she can speak ingles perfectly.
A Girl named Rosita
And dances!
A Girl named Rosita
Forward, forward, back, back, kick…pasada!
A Girl named Rosita
Right, swing, back, side, hold…ole!
A Girl named Rosita
Onstage, she is home.
A Girl named Rosita
Why not me?
A Girl named Rosita
I can be a leading lady, too.
A Girl named Rosita
Then - a miracle happens.
A Girl named Rosita
Her palms are sweating as she shakes the hand of the man who can change her life.
A Girl named Rosita
This time, the movie studio chooses.
A Girl named Rosita
“I’ve got it!” says the casting director.
A Girl named Rosita
metro-goldwyn-mayer studios
A Girl named Rosita
Years after teaching herself to speak perfect ingles, she must fake an all-purpose accent to play maidens, slaves, and Spanish spitfires: the only roles Hollywood will give a Latina.
A Girl named Rosita
Some days she wants to quit.
A Girl named Rosita
But she’s come too far to give up.
A Girl named Rosita
In 1959, the newspapers announce the Hollywood is making West Side Story, the hit Broadway musical, into a movie!
A Girl named Rosita
For a month, she practices.
A Girl named Rosita
Step, turn, snap-kick, swish, jump, TWIRL!
A Girl named Rosita
Corre! Run! Out of the schoolyard, past the bullies in the streets.
A Girl named Rosita
Tears. Anger. Fear, And…scene.
A Girl named Rosita
Then - cue the music: horns, strings, percussion!
A Girl named Rosita
The role is hers.
A Girl named Rosita
In barrios throughout the city, Puerto Ricans gather around their television sets to watch the 34th Academy Awards.
A Girl named Rosita
No Puerto Rican, or any Latina, has ever won an Oscar.
A Girl named Rosita
A sacred silence descends.
A Girl named Rosita
A collective breath is held.
A Girl named Rosita
Who will take home the award?
A Girl named Rosita
“May I have the envelope, please?”
A Girl named Rosita
“She won! She won! She did it!” her fans cry.
A girl named rosita
But who was she before all that?
A Girl named Rosita (Book jacket)
She makes a conscious choice to keep working, but it means signing with 20th Century Fox and playing more “dusky damsels”.
A Girl named Rosita (Timeline)
On set, she is uncomfortable with makeup used to make all the Puerto Ricans the same shade of brown, yet she remains proud to be a part of the historic film.
A Girl named Rosita (Timeline)
Fed up with being offered demeaning roles, she refuses to play them and instead tackles stage roles in London and New York.
A Girl named Rosita (Timeline)
She joins the cast of The Electric Company, a children’s television show, where she coins the memorable catchphrase, “Hey, you guys!”
A Girl named Rosita (Timeline)
My fame is her fame. Therefore, this beautiful, precious honor is also in her honor.
A Girl named Rosita (Timeline)
She is one of three entertains, and the only Latinx performer, to have earned a Peabody, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award.
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
Another was having to endure Hollywood’s racist and sexist attitudes - which meant accepting secondary roles rooted in gender stereotypes and riddled with cultural inaccuracies.
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
I was one of those young women.
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
Overwhelmed (and underdressed) to meet one of my childhood idols - I froze!
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
Oh, how I wished I’d found the courage to tell her that for a Puerto Rican kid from Queens who loved the performing arts, she’d been a much-needed role model and inspiration.
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
She still inspires me today.
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
Not just for her groundbreaking achievements but for how she continuously uses her voice to help others.
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
I do believe with all of my heart and soul, that yearning masses will always huddle on the border of hope.
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
And I pray that America will always be that beacon of those people’s dream.
A Girl Named Rosita (Author’s Note)
