In my visit to the Autry museum, I visited 2 exhibits; La Raza and Chicano Male Unbounded. Both of these exhibits combined teach us about resilience, collective action and the importance of recovering history. La Raza was an influential bilingual newspaper, published in Los Angeles from 1967-1977. La Raza provided a voice to the Chicano Right movement. La Raza photographers were not only journalists, but they were considered artist and activists. These photographers capture definitive moments, signs and symbols of Chicano activism.
La Raza exhibition displayed an archive of 25,000 images created by La Raza photographers. La Raza images exposed the mistreatment of Mexican Americans and empowered them to become activists in the fight. The images
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All of these events, demonstrated collective action, Chicanos working together to enhance their status in this country and stop the mistreatment. This image also demonstrates resilience. By seeing the strength of the community that I come from, made me feel empowered. Chicano have a history of survival and resistance. One good example of resilience is an image that was taken during La Marcha por La Justicia at Belvedere Park, on January 31, 1971. In this image we can see demonstrators holding a banner that says; “ We will not be intimidated!” During the 1960s and 1970 many Chicanos will protest peacefully, but many of these of protest were intervened by police brutality, and this is where “We will Not Be Intimidated” No matter what obstacles you throw at us, we will not stop. Photography can be a powerful weapon to empower activist and also be used as a tool to communicate concerns and issues visually. La Raza empowered many activists a decade ago, the displaying of this archive can also empower many young activists in modern day. This is where the importance of recovering history comes from. There's an old saying that says; “A picture is worth a million words.” Photography is an important