Making Chicano Life Visible

From 1967 to 1977, La Raza, the Los Angeles newspaper turned magazine, provided a vital and dynamic forum for Chicano political and cultural expression. Employing a range of disciplines, including photojournalism, graphic art, satire, poetry and political commentary, it was both chronicler and participant in the Mexican-American struggle for equality and justice.

The publication’s title, La Raza, was originally used by the Mexican philosopher and presidential candidate José Vasconcelos in a 1925 essay, “La Raza Cósmica” (“The Cosmic Race”). In it, he argued that the uniquely interconnected identities of the Mexican people, which included European, indigenous, and African roots, presaged a “fifth” race of the future, an agglomeration of all races. While its literal translation is “the race,” the term is typically used to connote the more expansive idea of “the people.”

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