History 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

El Movimiento Sigue (the Movement Continues) in Colorado

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

La Gente: El Movimiento/The Movement

Civics and Government

Social Studies

U.S. History

World History

High school students organized “blowouts,” or walkouts. College and university students created supportive communities and advocated for their rights. Chicanos founded chapters of United Mexican American Students (UMAS) and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA).

Digital copy of a film negative taken by photographer Juan Espinosa, depicting four members of UMAS (United Mexican American Students) presenting a list of grievances and demands to an unidentified official at the University of Colorado Boulder during Chicano student protests over lack of financial aid for minority students, circa 1973-1974. UMAS leader Florencio "Freddie" Granado (d. 1974) stands with his hand on his hip, wearing a serape.

Negative, UMAS members meeting with University of Colorado Boulder official

The UMAS (United Mexican American Students) chapter at the University of Colorado-Boulder shows the impact students had in Colorado. Fewer than one percent of CU students were Chicano in the mid-1960s. UMAS changed that by 1972, more than 900 Chicanos—many from rural and working-class backgrounds— were enrolled.

UMAS members also advocated for a Chicano Studies program, provided counseling and tutoring programs, and ran library, art, and summer programs.

Digital copy of a film negative taken by photographer Juan Espinosa in May 1974. The image documents members of the UMAS (United Mexican American Students) student organization at the University of Colorado Boulder protesting the lack of promised financial aid for minority students. Two students in the foreground hold a banner with the image of Che Guevara on it. Behind them are several other students who hold other posters, most of which are blocked by the banner. One poster is partially visible and reads "Franco does not respond to students," referring to UMAS-EOP (Educational Opportunity Program) leader Joe Franco, who the students held responsible for the financial aid issue.

Negative, UMAS march at University of Colorado Boulder

An explosion on May 27, 1974 killed three Chicano activists. Two days later, a second bomb killed three more and left one seriously injured. Most were CU students and graduates.

Why did the bombs go off? We still don’t know. Many argued that Los Seis (The Six) died at the hands of people opposed to the Chicano Movement. Local police and media thought the victims accidentally set the bombs off themselves. Findings of a federal grand jury were never made public.

Digital copy of a film negative taken by photographer Juan Espinosa of Neva Romero (1953-1974), circa 1973. Romero was a student at the University of Colorado Boulder, a member of the United Mexican American Students (UMAS) organization, and a Chicana civil rights activist when she died in a car-bombing with Reyes Martinez and Una Jaakola at Chautauqua Park in Boulder, Colorado on May 27, 1974. Romero is one of the six Chicano/a victims of car-bombings in Boulder in May 1974 who are collectively known today as "Los Seis de Boulder."

Negative, Neva Romero

Teachers and administrators at Denver’s West High often ignored or put down students of Mexican descent. After the school refused to dismiss a teacher hostile to Chicanos, students walked out on March 20, 1969. They demanded an end to racism, more Chicano teachers, classes relevant to their culture and history, and bilingual education.

The West High Blowout (or walkout) was the first—and most violent— Chicano student protest in the state. It inspired walkouts in Pueblo and other Colorado towns.

Digital copy of a film negative taken by photographer Juan Espinosa, depicting a protest led by UMAS (United Mexican American Students) on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, circa 1973-1974.

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

La Gente: El Movimiento/The Movement

Student Movements

Background Knowledge

Chicanos Demand Empowerment Through Education