Art and Literature of the Movement
Black Nationalism
The Black Nationalism movement, and the Black Panther Party in particular, continued the traditional Civil Rights Movement’s legacy of using Black newspapers as a tool of protest and organization. The BPP’s newspaper, The Black Panther, included news stories on BPP programs like the Free Breakfast program, updates on ongoing court battles, tributes to fallen members, in-depth articles on police abuses, and editorials weighing in on international battles, primarily supporting Castro and the Communists in Cuba.
Chicano
Art has been the glue that binds all Chicanos. It represents the past, present, and future. History of a homeland and images of the land they now call home. As Sybil Venegas elaborates in the video below, art was used during the Chicano Movement to provide a voice to people who felt as though there culture was being ashamed out of the collective memories of Mexican Americans. Art was used to illustrate the justice and equality which was a birth right, and would help Chicanos be humanized by other cultures within the United States.
I Am Joaquin
I am Joaquin by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, was one of the most beneficial pieces of Chicano art, because it illuminated the world and the minds of Mexican-Americans across the states to how they saw themselves, how they were perceived by others, and what it meant to be Chicano.
I Am Joaquin: Poem Format
There is a constant struggle between the identities as one tries to find one’s place. It is in “one’s place” that he learns though “my fathers have lost the economic battle and won the struggle of cultural survival.” Many Chicanos deal with the finite class that is given to them. As Gonzales elaborates that “yes, I have come a long way to nowhere, unwillingly dragged by that monstrous, technical, industrial giant called Progress and Anglo success….” Chicanos have a complicated history where some share both native as well as conquerors’ blood and in some ways, seem themselves as “both tyrant and slave.” I am Joaquin eloquently blends the history, sentiment, and understanding of what Chicanos were, are, and need to recognize.
Here is the mural by Jose Antonio Burciaga titled The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes, which serves a memorial to those that fought for civil rights with an emphasis on Latin and Mexican historical figures. The mural includes activist of various races, genders, and backgrounds all of whom advanced civil rights for Chicanos along the way. Dr. Jose B. Cuellar provides an in-depth look at to who is in the painting.
Works Cited
“Los Siete de La Raza.” Ramparts. March, 1971. Accessed on March 4, 2017. http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/Unity_Support/pdf/Los_Siete_de_la_Raza_Ramparts_1971.pdf