Celebrate La Raza

In 1972, amid the swirl of the Chicano movement, CSUS student Philip Santos started a bookstore. The next three decades would see that tiny bookstore—called La Raza or “the people,” and stocked with Chicano literature, history and culture—transform into La Raza Galería Posada, a dynamic Chicano and Native American arts organization known for its Cantos poetry and music events, its annual citywide Day of the Dead celebrations, and its vibrant Second Saturday exhibits.

So it’s only right that La Raza’s organizational files and print collection would make its way back to Sac State, from whence the inspiration came.

La Raza Galería Posada: 30 Years of Literature, Art y Cultura, an exhibit curated by former La Raza director Tere Romo, offers a visual history of the organization. It also pays tribute to La Raza’s successful, “quality, artist-centered programming within a larger community-building agenda” by replicating La Raza events throughout the month-long exhibit.

Thursday, March 27, will feature poetry readings by Lorna Dee Cervantes (who read poetry at the first Canto in 1983), Frank LaPena, and Diego Carrillo with musical guest Lichi Fuentes at 7 p.m. in the Library Gallery. On Thursday, April 10, the film Dia de los Muertos, Chicano Style will be screened at 7 p.m. in the Hinde Auditorium. The exhibit closes with a Galería Posada Artist Roundtable at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 19, in the Library Gallery.

The exhibit runs through April 19 in the CSUS Library Gallery, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.