History Colorado

Chicano, Hispano, Mexican, and Latino led organizations continued the tradition of organizing and seeking social, political, and education reform that began in the mid-1800s.  Throughout the state, numerous organizations, many youth led, demanded change to systemic racism, inequities, and access to their history in the classrooms. Frustrated with the government’s responses to poverty, discrimination, and police brutality, Chicano youth founded the Crusade for Justice in Denver in 1966.  Led by Corky Gonzales and others the organization sought to empower Mexican Americans, Chicanos, and Hispanos through education and activism in the city.

The Crusade organized conferences, published newspapers like other organizations to inform the community, as well as participated in rallies to support other causes and organizations across the state.


Digital copy of a film negative taken by photographer Juan Espinosa on March 17, 1974. The image depicts a demonstration on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver, Colo. to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of Luis Junior Martinez during a skirmish with Denver police and the subsequent police attack on the headquarters of the Crusade for Justice, a Chicano civil rights organization founded by Rudolfo "Corky" Gonzales. The photo was taken on the capitol steps looking west towards Civic Center Park and shows an Aztlan flag in the foreground and a crowd of people watching Crusade for Justice founder and Chicano activist Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales (not visible) speaking.

Negative, Demonstration at the Colorado State Capitol building

Negative, March 17th demonstration at the Colorado State Capitol building

Photograph, National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference

More than a thousand Chicanos came together for the first National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in March 1969. They discussed politics, education, and art, debated the role of women in the movement, listened to Chicano poets and musicians, and produced theater. They returned home with a sense of unity and new energy. Organized by the Crusade for Justice, the conference strengthened the movement and spotlighted Denver.

In the words of Chicano activists, "Our fight lives on and will continue as future generations express ideas and struggle against injustice. Today’s challenges are formidable, and the future will be in the hands of those who dare to question, push back, and persevere against privilege and power—those who write, sing, dance, study, share, and stand strong. Let the world hear the grito of our ancestors, and Que Viva la Raza!"

El Movimiento Sigue (the Movement Continues) in Colorado

Land Rights and Recognition of Place

Staff of Life by Emanuel Martinez, 1976, Acrylic on cement, donated by Chicano/a Murals of Colorado Project

Mestizos

Largest Hispano and Mexican Neighborhood in Denver

The Art of the Chicano Movement was an effort to continue the tradition of storytelling to describe a non-Western narrative of Mestizaje--mixed heritage--ancestry, history, and culture through poetry, theatre, dance, art, and public art, specifically murals in Chicano neighborhoods.  Chicano artists embraced their Indigenous ancestry by incorporating traditional storytelling, pictography, and symbolism in their art.

Art & Culture

Chicanos had grown angry with their history being left out and with racism in schools. By the 1960s and ‘70s, as students demanded equal treatment, schools became battlegrounds across the state. 

Student Movements

Inspired by the Mexican Mural Movement in the mid-1900s, young Chicano artists began to paint murals in historically marginalized neighborhoods.  Emanuel Martinez, pioneer of the mural movement in Colorado, began painting murals in the La Alma Lincoln Park Neighborhood in 1969.  Resident of the Lincoln Housing Projects, Emanuel, with the assistance of youth in the community, painted murals on the swimming pool buildings in various Denver parks and in the Lincoln housing projects.  The murals gave the community a sense of space and served as historical textbooks describing the rich history of Black, Indigenous, Hispanos, Chicanos, Mexicans, and others in Colorado. 

The Chicano Mural Movement

Digging sugar beets, cutting lettuce, and picking fruit: all are grueling tasks. Factory work can be equally hard. Relegated to the worst jobs, people of Mexican descent toiled for long hours under terrible working and living conditions.

Farm Workers and Labor

The Bracero Program

Vietnam War

Beginning in the 1690s, the Spanish gave large tracts of land to individuals or groups in New Mexico.  The Spanish settlers were isolated and had limited access to goods from Mexico City and became increasingly dependent on trade with Puebloan groups and other Indigenous tribes.  The settlers, also known as Hispanos, established distinct traditions and customs in the Spanish Empire’s Northern Frontier.  After Mexico won their independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico granted land to Mexican citizens in the present-day states of Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. The land grants were meant to encourage settlement in Mexico’s northern boundary, where the United States was also interested in expanding. Hundreds of land grants were given out, mostly by the Mexican government to Hispanos and Mexicans.

Land Grants

A community advisory committee helped develop El Movimiento: The Chicano Movement in Colorado. The exhibit shares the story from their point of view, in their voices. History Colorado is honored to work with the committee, people who stood up for human rights at the height of the Movement in the 1960s and ‘70s, and who continue the fight for education and equality.

The Chicano Movement—El Movimiento—changed lives. Years of racism and discrimination that kept Mexican Americans poor, marginalized, and often invisible would not be tolerated anymore. The battle for justice and equality intensified in the 1960s and ‘70s, particularly in Colorado. 
Chicanos demanded better working conditions, housing, education, and representation. They called for an end to war in Vietnam. In cities, they stood up against police brutality; in rural areas, they fought to reclaim land. El Movimiento forced change, and the struggle continues.




Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964

Colorado Chicano Movement History: Portal 

The Wonderful World of the Chicano Experience

Chicano Murals in Colorado: The First Decade

Su Teatro: Cultural & Performing Arts Center

When a Colorado governor declared martial law and blocked poor New Mexicans at the border

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

La Gente: El Movimiento/The Movement

El Movimiento Sigue (the Movement Continues) in Colorado

Background Knowledge