El Movimiento: The Chicano Movement in Colorado, sponsored by Colorado State University-Pueblo, will be on display at El Pueblo History Museum beginning Jan. 22. El Movimiento documents Chicanos’ struggle for justice in Colorado during the 1960s and 1970s through boycotts, demonstrations and organized events.
The event had an open reception on Jan. 22 that consisted of food and live music with a trio that played popular Mexican-American songs to the public.
Rita J. Martinez, coordinator of the event, explained that the “El Movimiento” exhibit started in Denver, February 2015 and ran through October 2015. By the summer of 2015, the Pueblo community arranged the exhibition to travel to Pueblo.
The exhibition in Pueblo is a combination of the original exhibition plus some of Pueblo history.
Thanks to the successful outcome of “El Movimiento” in Denver, CSU-Pueblo offered a new class in the beginning of the spring semester called el movimiento, which features historical events and names related to the movement.
There is also a book that follows the exhibit along with the class offered at CSU-Pueblo. Publisher, editor and author at Vanishing Horizons, Deborah Martinez, published “El Movimiento.”
The book is used as a text book for the class that will be available while the exhibition is held in Pueblo, spring and fall semesters.
According to Martinez, the success of the exhibit will determine whether the El Movimiento exhibit will be kept permanently in Pueblo or not.
“The one in Denver stood because of its popularity. It was very well-received by the Colorado community,” Martinez added.
Martinez said that her company can help writers identify and develop a memoir project, guide the research, edit the writing and publish the book in print.
“As an author, I choose to define and redefine the Southwest through children’s stories, articles or books. History is constantly changing and I want to be a part of that,” Martinez said.
The exhibit will run until Dec. 12, 2016 in Pueblo and is open and free to the public.
Darla Trujillo • Sep 14, 2016 at 5:27 pm
I was in Pueblo Colorado when the Raza unida was going strong just a little kid but I remember Martin Serna was a big advocate for the Chicano people. I liked hanging around the cucuracha newspaper people hoping one day I could do some good in my writings. I ended up getting arrested and on the front page of the pueblo newspaper at Centennial High I reside in NM where I feel the spanish speaking people need education before all their land is lost to the Texans and outsiders we need the Chicano movement here and now. D.Darla Trujillo