Opening Tonight! "Unidos Por La Causa: The Chicana/o Experience in San Diego"

Tonight, Special Collections and the Library will celebrate the opening of our new bilingual exhibit Unidos Por la Causa: The Chicano Experience in San Diego, a display of photographs, art, and historic documents illustrating the early years of the Chicano movement for social justice and civil rights in San Diego. Among many documents and images that illustrate the movement, the exhibit includes a selection of 62 movement-related posters and broadsides produced in the 1960s and 1970s promoting anti-war marches, UFW protests, student conferences and many other cultural and political events, demonstrating the movement's struggle for equal education and its resistance to injustice.

Unidos Por la Causa celebrates San Diego's Chicana/o community and the Chicana/o movement, and will be a guide to some of the most seminal events in San Diego's Chicana/o history, including those which helped to shape the community during the 1960's and 1970's. The exhibit draws upon materials held in Special Collections and University Archives. These collections, many of which have only recently been acquired, include the Arturo Casares Papers, the Enriqueta Chavez Papers, the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department Records, the Chicano Federation of San Diego County Records, the Leonard Fierro Papers, the Maria Garcia Papers, MANA of San Diego County Records, the Rene Nuñez Papers, and others. In addition, a separate exhibit case displays artifacts and other materials documenting the takeover of Chicano Park in 1970 and includes a video display of film footage of the Takeover in 1970 (illustrated above).

A special reception during the celebration will honor contributors and donors to the Archive, followed by a talk by Martín Gómez, Director of the Los Angeles Public Library, one of the largest metropolitan library systems in the United States. Mr. Gómez’s presentation “Archiving a Movement” will discuss how this particular archive is part of a nation-wide revitalization of libraries reflecting increased Latino patronage. The lecture will take place in Love Library Rm. 430 on Wednesday, October 20 at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. A flyer publicizing the lecture is attached to this message. We hope you will join us Wednesday at 7 p.m. for this important talk.

These events are made possible through the generous support of the President’s Leadership Fund, by contributions from SDSU departments, and support from individuals and organizations in the San Diego community. Please join us!