Becoming San Antonio’s Own: Reinventing “Rosita”

This article examines the career of singer Rosita Fernández, revealing several “makeovers” of her performance identity throughout her sixty– year career. Fernández first established herself as part of San Antonio’s 1930s tourism campaign of “Old Mexico.” Her first reinvention of her persona, “Rosita,” showcased her balancing act of motherhood and domesticity with her singing career. However, she made calculated decisions to find local fame and wealth without having to leave her family or San Antonio. Her second public “makeover” billed her as a cultural bridge, an image she employed through her repeated performances walking across the bridge that led to the Arneson Theater, a River Walk main stage. Fernández realized her goals to become a representative of the Mexican American community early in her life, though she has received little credit for her ability to negotiate her long–standing career as “San Antonio’s rose.”