Film Screening: Chicano Park

Film Screening: Chicano Park
Monday, May 1, 2017
Geisel Library, Seuss Room
Noon – 1:00 PM

historical picture of chicano park murals
[Chicano Park Murals, between 1964 and 2007]. Herman Baca Papers. MSS 0649. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
The theme for this year’s Cesar Chavez Celebration is United, Resistant & Unafraid!  Join us for a screening of the documentary Chicano Park. From the book Mediating History, “This documentary traces the history of the San Diego Chicano community of Logan Heights, or Barrio Logan. This is a story of artists and community organizers who resisted the encroachment of freeways and urban development which divided their community. In the 1920s, Barrio Logan was the second largest Mexican-American community on the West Coast; but the community was uprooted during the Depression, when large numbers of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were deported under US government policies intended to protect jobs for Anglos.
In the 1960s, Chicano community activists fought to build a park on a parcel of land under the freeway. Civic and cultural pride came together in an historical vision of the Southwest that traced its origins to the mythical Aztec homeland of Aztlan, located in what is now the US Southwest, and continues the settlement of the barrio in 1900. Community residents, artists and activists discuss the long process of creating Chicano Park, which was finally opened in 1970 on a freeway underpass. The park became the site for community events and expressions from cultural performances to murals.
This is a look at a community which set out to reclaim its cultural roots, land, and heritage.”
This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served!
For questions or more information, please contact Gayatri Singh, gasingh@ucsd.edu.
Abrash, B., & Egan, C. (1992). Mediating history: The MAP guide to independent video by and about African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American people. New York: New York University Press.