In East Los Angeles during the late 1960s and 1970s, a group of young activists used creative tools like writing and photography as a means for community organizing, providing a platform for the Chicano Movement in the form of the bilingual newspaper.
In the 1960s and 70s, a group of young idealists-activists came together to work on a community newspaper called La Raza that became the voice for the Chicano Movement. With only the barest resources, but a generous amount of dedication, these young men and women changed their world and produced an archive of over 25,000 photographs. Hear their thoughts on the times and its relevance today, while perusing through some photographs not seen in public for decades in this series of narrated slideshows.
Click right or left to look through the images from the 1960s and 70s. Hit the play button on the bottom right corner to listen to the audio.
1/20 LAPD officer at a Vietnam protest | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
2/20 LAPD vehicle at a Vietnam protest | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
3/20 LAPD officers in car during a Vietnam protest | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
4/20 A photographer during the Lincoln High School walkouts | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
5/20 Men in a car during the Roosevelt High School walkouts | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
6/20 Men in a car during the Roosevelt High School walkouts | Devra Weber, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
7/20 Men in a car during the Roosevelt High School walkouts | Devra Weber, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
8/20 Plainsclothes officers during Roosevelt High School walkouts | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
9/20 Man at the LAUSD Board of Education meeting on the transfer of Sal Castro | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
10/20 LAPD officers at Lincoln High School | Raul Ruiz, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, by cjao
11/20 LAPD officers at Lincoln High School | Raul Ruiz, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
12/20 Man photographs at Magnolia Ave Elementary School during the Magnolia Boycott | Sixto Tarango, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
13/20 Man photographs at Magnolia Ave Elementary School during the Magnolia Boycott | Sixto Tarango, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
14/20 Man photographs protesters against Rodino Bill | Raul Ruiz, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
15/20 Man photographs protesters at "Dump Nixon" march | Maria Marquez Sanchez, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
16/20 LAPD officers confront protesters at Police Brutality March | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
17/20 LAPD officers pins protester at Police Brutality March | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
18/20 Man photographs protesters against Rodino Bill | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
19/20 LAPD officer in car during a Vietnam protest | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
20/20 LAPD officers watch protesters demonstrating in support of Ricardo Chavez Ortiz at L.A. County Jail | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
Narrated Photo Essay: Police Surveillance and Infiltration During the Movimiento
Patricia Borjon Lopez
My name is Patricia Lopez. My maiden name was Borjon. At the time that the Chicano movement and La Raza started, I had already moved up to go to university at University of California at Berkeley. Watching all the activity and being somewhat a part of it, I felt like I needed to go back to my own community. I also met Joe Razo, Raul Ruiz, Risco — just really felt like that was home, that I could do something with this people, like I had something to give. We would take our film to be developed in the beginning, until we noticed that so many of our images were lost and we knew we had them. During the time, we were really being surveilled. I mean the surveillance and the infiltration was incredible. I think that was a waste of resources because we weren't doing anything illegal.
Top Image: LA County Sheriff's Department officer with a rifle on the street during Marcha Por La Justicia | La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
