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Plaza Verde Park is a park established in 1972 in Pueblo, Colorado.
It is managed by the Pueblo Department of Parks and Recreation. The park is a popular site for celebrations like Cinco de Mayo and gatherings for the Latino community in Pueblo.
In 1968, a group of mothers on the lower east side of Pueblo recognized a lack of recreation areas for their children. These organizers became known as Las Madres de la Casa Verde and created a grassroots community center at 519 Joplin Ave. [1]
In 1965, parts of Pueblo were devastated by the 1965 flood. In 1972, the group worked with Pueblo Parks and Recreation to develop a park in the damaged area.
The Mothers and La Raza Unida co-director Martín Serna gathered over 3000 signatures on a petition from members of the neighborhood who complained about the lack of facilities for the youth. [2] After the death of 14-year-old Rudy Maestas, Serna organized a protest rally that blamed city officials for criminal negligence. The city manager blamed federal bureaucracy for the delay in building the park, but eventually they used city money to build it. [2]
Groups like La Raza Unida and La Gente originally supported the organization efforts and developed the first mural in the park, which began a tradition of mural painting in the park. The Eastside Commission hired artist Anthony Armijo to paint murals depicting the history of the lower eastisde neighborhood. [1]
In 2013, the local Native American community adopted the park and sponsored Earth Day cleanups and mural paintings. A mural of nine roses represent the original nine founding Mothers of Las Casa Verde. [1]
In 2016, Las Comadres, including Bea Roybal's daughter Carmen Roybal Arteaga, donated a rose garden memorial in honor of the La Casa Verde Mothers and the neighborhood. A historical marker bench was installed with nine rose bushes during the dedication ceremony. [1]
One of the best known murals in the park is an untitled mural by artist Leo Lucero, painted in 1978. Lucero and other artists asked city officials permission to paint the mural, but were rebuffed. Lucero ignored the orders and painted a Chicano flag on a concrete wall. The mural was loved by the community, who came together to protect it from being destroyed by the city. [3]
The mural was inaugurated on July 2, 1978, with entertainment, stalls, and food. Community members expressed concern that the city council would paint over the mural since it wasn't officially sanctioned. The artist said, "Murals are done for the people that want them, not for those who don’t. They can go around killing Chicanos when they want to, painting a mural won’t do anything." [4]
The mural remained undamaged for 14 years. In 1992, Lucero was contacted by the head of the parks and recreation department to repaint the mural, as it had been damaged by graffiti. [3]
In 2022, Lucha Martinez de Luna organized a preservation project to protect Colorado's Chicano murals, including Lucero's mural. The mural has been refurbished with multiple artists working to preserve the artwork. Martinez de Luna is working to have these murals designated as historical landmarks. [5]
The King & Story, also known as Story & King, neighborhood of San Jose, California is located in the Alum Rock district of East San Jose, centered on the intersection of King and Story roads. King & Story is one of San Jose's most notable and historic Chicano/Mexican-American neighborhoods.
The Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) is a Sacramento, California-based art collective, founded in 1970 by Ricardo Favela, José Montoya and Esteban Villa. It was one of the "most important collective artist groups" in the Chicano art movement in California during the 1970s and the 1980s and continues to be influential into the 21st century.
Chicano Park is a 32,000 square meter park located beneath the San Diego–Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan, a predominantly Chicano or Mexican American and Mexican-migrant community in central San Diego, California. The park is home to the country's largest collection of outdoor murals, as well as various sculptures, earthworks, and an architectural piece dedicated to the cultural heritage of the community. Because of the magnitude and historical significance of the murals, the park was designated an official historic site by the San Diego Historical Site Board in 1980, and its murals were officially recognized as public art by the San Diego Public Advisory Board in 1987. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 owing to its association with the Chicano Movement, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016. Chicano Park, like Berkeley's People's Park, was the result of a militant people's land takeover. Every year on April 22, the community celebrates the anniversary of the park's takeover with a celebration called Chicano Park Day.
The Centro Cultural de la Raza is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American and Latino art and culture. It is located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California.The cultural center supports and encourages the creative expression “of the indigenous cultures of the Americas.” It is currently a member of the American Alliance of Museums.
Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida was a Hispanic political party centered on Chicano (Mexican-American) nationalism. It was created in 1970 and became prominent throughout Texas and Southern California. It was started to combat growing inequality and dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party that was typically supported by Mexican-American voters. After its establishment in Texas, the party launched electoral campaigns in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and California, though it only secured official party status for statewide races in Texas. It did poorly in the 1978 Texas elections and dissolved when leaders and members dropped out.
Galería de la Raza (GDLR) is a non-profit art gallery and artist collective founded in 1970, that serves the largely Chicano and Latino population of San Francisco's Mission District. GDLR mounts exhibitions, hosts poetry readings, workshops, and celebrations, sells works of art, and sponsors youth and artist-in-residence programs. Exhibitions at the Galería tend to feature the work of minority and developing country artists and concern issues of ethnic history, identity, and social justice.
Salvador Roberto Torres is a Chicano artist and muralist and an early exponent of the Chicano art movement. He was one of the creators of Chicano Park, and led the movement to create its freeway-pillar murals. He was also a founder of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego, California.
The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement which began in the 1960s.
Las Mujeres Muralistas were an all-female Latina artist collective based in the Mission District in San Francisco in the 1970s. They created a number of public murals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and are said to have sparked the beginning of the female muralist movement in the US and Mexico. Their murals were colorful and large scale and often focused on themes such as womanhood, culture, beauty, and socio-political change. Patricia Rodriguez, Graciela Carrillo, Consuelo Mendez, and Irene Perez are recognized as the founders and most prominent members of the collective, but other female Chicana artists assisted along the way and even joined later on, such as Susan Cervantes, Ester Hernandez, and Miriam Olivo among others.
Victor Ochoa is an activist, painter, graphic designer and master muralist. He has painted over 100 murals, many of them in San Diego, California. He is considered one of the pioneers of San Diego's Chicano art movement. Ochoa was one of the original activists at Chicano Park and a co-founder of Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, both in San Diego. He helped establish the influential Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronteriza (BAW/TAF). Ochoa is also a teacher of art and Chicano heritage. His work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at the Venice Bi-Annual, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego and in the groundbreaking exhibition, Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (CARA). In addition to creating his own work, he is also a master of art preservation techniques, especially relating to murals. He is considered to be a "serious cultural resource in the border region.
Graciela Carrillo is a Chicana artist and muralist in San Francisco and member of the all-female Chicana/Latina artist group Mujeres Muralistas. She is a co-founder of Galería de la Raza, a gallery utilized to showcase the everyday lives of the Chicano community through art during the Chicano Civil Rights movement through the Chicano muralist movement.
Deborah Mora Espinosa is a Chicana activist in Colorado. She worked for History Colorado as the director of El Pueblo History Museum.
Las Madres de la Casa Verde were a group of Chicana women in Pueblo, Colorado that formed to support the Chicano community in the lower eastside. They worked closely with other activist groups such as La Raza Unida and the Brown Berets.
Martín Porferio "Marty" Serna was an early organizer of the Chicano Movement, who was one of the founders of the Brown Berets in Pueblo, Colorado. He was part of the La Raza Unida political party, and developed several community organizations in Pueblo including the Black/Brown Berets, United Farmworkers Organization, Escuela Huitzhualopán, Southern Colorado Chicano Planning Council, and El Partido de la Raza Unida.
Carmen Roybal Arteaga is a Pueblo-based activist for Chicano education and historical research. She has been an advocate for bilingual and bicultural education in Pueblo schools to meet the needs of the large Chicano population. She was also known as Carmen Serna when she was married to activist Martín Serna.
Deborah Martinez-Martinez is CEO of the publisher Vanishing Horizons and is an author who explores the history of the Southwestern United States. She worked in higher education admissions and recruitment for 20 years and advocates for more Chicanas in education.
Albert Gurule is a Chicano activist from Pueblo, Colorado. He was part of La Raza Unida Party and ran for Colorado governor in 1970.
A Chicano mural is an artistic expression done, most commonly, on walls or ceilings by Chicanos or Mexican-American artists. Chicano murals rose during the Chicano art movement, that began in the 1960, with the influence of Mexican muralism and the Mexican Revolution. The murals are an illustration of Chicano’s ethnic pride or a form of activism against police brutality, social issues, political issues, and civil rights issues. It started being done by young Chicano artists in commonly marginalized neighborhoods, schools, and churches, demonstrating cultural art and ideas. The murals are characterized by their art style of bright color, religious symbols, and cultural references to Mexican and Mexican American history. Chicano murals have been and are historically found in the Southwest states like Texas, Colorado, and most famously, California, where the national landmark Chicano Park is located. The popularity of the Chicano Murals has allowed a sense of community, culture, activism, and storytelling about elements of being Chicano. Various states are currently looking to preserve and restore some murals as they carry historical meaning for the geographical community and the Mexican-American community.
Arlette Lucero is a visual artist, educator, and illustrator.