Assignment:
Answer the guiding question "What does a specific Chicano mural (of your choice) tell us about why we do or why we should work?
Answer that question by discussing specific details from the mural in a 200 word post with a clear claim, carefully explained support, and appropriately documented resources (links for sites; works cited for things you cannot link to.).
Finding a Mural
Here is the site I shared in class where you can find images for the restored Chicano Park murals by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.
Here is a Chicano Park mural site I created a few years ago with images from some of my favorite murals before the restoration.
You may also search for other Chicano murals if you wish, but make sure you choose a mural from the United States.
Resources for Understanding the Murals
On the Web
Carone, Angela. Restoring the Chicano Park Murals. KPBS News, 12 January 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpCqJoeNWY&feature=youtu.be
Created three years ago for a popular television audience, this KPBS news report about the restoration of Chicano Park’s murals does not meet the highest academic/professional standards of documentation because it is created by a television journalist rather than a scholar and does not include supporting resources and documentation. But, this news story is still very valuable because it exposes us to the ideas, images, voices, and work of some of the original artists who returned to the park in the last few years to renovate and in some cases finally complete many of the parks murals.
Chicano Park Historical Documentation Project. The History of Chicano Park. San Diego State University, http://www.chicanoparksandiego.com/
Constructed originally in the late 1990s during the first wave of renovations to the park’s murals, The History of Chicano Park web site is not current and does not include creation or update dates but otherwise meets high standards of academic documentation because it was created by a team of professors in support of a Chicano Studies course offered at San Diego State. The site includes a detailed history of the park, images and background information on selected murals, and a virtual tour of the site which would be useful to both scholars looking for research documentation and members of the general public simply wishing to learn more about the park.
Chicano Park Steering Committee. "Chicano Park Map and Restoration Project." chicanopark.org, http://chicano-park.com/cpmap.html
The creation of the Chicano Park Steering Committee (members of the Barrio Logan community, artists who have painted and renovated the mural, and various volunteers who support its work), chicano-park.org is an extraordinary web site that does not have academic or professional credentials but it has several other virtues that make it essential to anyone who wants to learn about the park. First, it is updated regularly because through this site the steering committee organizes its annual Chicano park festival. Second, it currently features the most updated map of the park and the best collection of images of the recently renovated park murals. And, finally, the site captures the history and continued energetic work of a grassroots community organization that has forty-five years of history. Arguably this group’s historic work is even more impressive than the art of the park itself!
A Library Database
Our library's American Mosaic: The Latino Experience is a great place to find background information on Chicano culture and mural art. Here are a few pieces that might be helpful, but you should explore the database on your own to find more.
Calvo, William. "Chicano Mural Movement." The American Mosaic: The Latino American Experience. ABC-CLIO, 2016, http://latinoamerican2.abc-clio.com.prox.miracosta.edu/Search/Display/1329551?terms=murals&webSiteCode=SLN_LAE_AC&returnToPage=%2fSearch%2fDisplay%2f1329551%3fterms%3dmurals&token=E29DF35E605180F9657EF4DA8E4B3EBB&casError=False
Published this year, this article from a MiraCosta College library database meets the highest standards of academic and professional credibility because it has been peer-reviewed by librarians and scholars in the field, includes a brief bibliography, and was written by William Calvo a University of Michigan professor and expert in the field who teaches and writes about Chicano culture and history. The article provides a useful broad overview of the Chicano Mural Movement and its place in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement.
"César Chávez and the United Farm Workers (Overview)." The American Mosaic: The Latino American Experience.ABC-CLIO, 2016, http://latinoamerican2.abc-clio.com.prox.miracosta.edu/Topics/Display/1370126?cid=41&terms=United+Farmworkers
Updated in 2016, this article from a MiraCosta library database meets the highest standards of academic and professional credibility because it has been peer-reviewed by librarians and scholars in the field. Composed by the database’s editors, this article provides a useful overview of the place the United Farm Workers movement played in the Chicano Civil Rights movement. It also
"Emiliano Zapata." The American Mosaic: The Latino American Experience. ABC-CLIO, 2016. http://latinoamerican2.abc-clio.com.prox.miracosta.edu/Search/Display/1468749?terms=emiliano+zapata
An article from an annually updated database from MiraCosta’s library, this essay meets the highest standards of academic and professional credibility because it has been peer-reviewed by librarians and scholars in the field and includes a brief bibliography. Composed by the databases editors, this article provides a useful overview of Zapata’s revolutionary career and the enduring cultural resonance of his revolutionary ideals.
A Cool Book in Our Library
Latorre, Guisela. Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California. University of Texas Press, 2008.
Although eight years old now, this scholarly work meets the highest standards of academic and professional credibility. Its author includes over twenty pages of notes and a twelve page bibliography of related resources. Guisela Latorre is a professor of Women’s Studies at Ohio State University and an expert on this topic who has published other articles related to murals and Chicana art. An eight page section of her book (156-164) specifically discusses Chicano park and its references to indigenous Mexican cultures, an important backdrop to the Death of a Farmworker mural, which incorporates indigenous imagery such as the Thunderbird motif.
Cockcroft, Eva Sperling and Holly Barnet-Sanchez, editors. Signs of the Heart: California Chicano Murals. University of New Mexico Press, 1993.
Although dated (over twenty years old!), this extraordinary collection of images and essays assembled by artists and cultural scholars in Chicano studies and mural art is still the most valuable and inspiring resource for understanding and writing about Chicano murals out there. Each essay includes a bibliography and, where appropriate end notes, and the collection works to address bias by including a variety of thinkers. Even so, it clearly works from a Chicano civil rights perspective.Our library has a copy of it -- worth studying for the art alone!
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