In December of 2016, Chicano Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior (National Park Service, 2016). This recognition would not have been given were it not for the proactive efforts of Chicana and Chicano community activists who submitted a request for inclusion in this national designation. Despite more recent aggressive tactics against diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, these types of federal designations help to protect historical and culturally significant landmarks that face threats of gentrification and other development projects. Traditionally, this designation is reserved for places with a much longer history, though exceptions can be made with the right justification and evidence. Chicano Park is one of these exceptional places, given that it holds many Latino/a stories, which unfortunately tend to go untold and are left out of the dominant narrative (Valdes, 1998, 2005). This holds true for Latinas/os in the arts as well, and scholars have advocated to include Latinos/as contributions to the arts in galleries, scholarship, and curriculum (Grimm & Noriega, 2013).
Chicano Park was founded in April of 1970 when the community of Barrio Logan, together with other supporters, resisted city and state efforts to turn the land under the Coronado bridge into a highway patrol substation and parking lot; they took matters into their own hands and occupied this area (Diaz, 2020). Due to the community’s resistance capital (Yosso, 2005) they successfully defeated the authorities’ plans for their barrio (ethnic Mexican neighborhood). In fact, the community had been advocating for a park in the area left vacant by the freeway construction that divided the community. The takeover of this land resulted in the creation of the now nationally recognized Chicano Park. However, there is an ongoing need to continue sharing, researching, and analyzing these stories, especially during times of increased hostility toward critical history. There is an added urgency to documenting and archiving these oral stories, as many of the activists from that era are now in their 70s and 80s.
Chicano Park Murals and Scholars
The struggle for social justice and the arts continues in Barrio Logan, with a recent victory in 2022: the grand opening of the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center. This effort is coupled with the ongoing protection, restoration, creation, and documentation of new murals by the Chicano Park Steering Committee (n.d.) in partnership with educational institutions. In fact, in 2012 and 2015, students from the University of San Diego cataloged 89 murals and statues. Since then, at least 18 new murals have been added, with more to come. The digital archive is available at the Chicano Park Museum (n.d.) website (https://chicanoparkmuseum.org/murals/) along with a growing physical archive.
Ongoing LatCrit scholarship is needed to document and analyze the oral history of these world-renowned works of monumental art. However, Latinos/as who have made it through the educational pipeline (Yosso, 2006) continue to be underrepresented at the doctoral level (Mora & Lopez, 2023), which presents a barrier to scholarly and academic contributions from Latina/o scholars.
Faced with these challenges, LatCrit scholars continue to advocate for “the production of knowledge in which research is being done by voices that have been silenced in the past to share the stories that have often gone unheard” (Osorio, 2018, p. 94). This LatCrit tenet is what framed a forthcoming study that seeks to analyze the oral history of Chicano Park murals. The study uses a qualitative methodology that values the contributions of communities of color and seeks to gather and share what Yosso (2006) refers to as counterstories.
Critical Oral History
The scholarly interest in this study began as a means to document the oral history of the Chicano Park murals, which began three years after the park land was taken over by the community. The goal was to build on the research and archival materials available to the community, educators, and scholars interested in the oral history of Chicana/o Park murals. This interest eventually evolved into an examination of the stories themselves and how, despite contested memories, artists were able to create monumental works of art that transformed the appearance of the concrete pillars now piercing the ground where houses once stood. These contested memories reflect how oppressed peoples must navigate systems of oppression while creating visual narratives that challenge those same systems. Using an asset-based approach rooted in a LatCrit theoretical framework, Macias (2026) used in-depth semi-structured interviews and a narrative analysis to make meaning of the data gathered. The intersectional aspect of LatCrit also framed how systems of subordination like race, gender, class and other forms of oppression intersected to create barriers to artistic expression. One example of this is when artists decided to forgo the lengthy bureaucratic approval process to paint the murals and began painting without Caltrans´ permission, the state agency that manages the freeway system in California.
Contested Memories
The sample size for this forthcoming study was limited due to the lack of access to the decreasing number of surviving artists who created murals at Chicano Park in 1973. This did not deter Macias and those interested in participating in the study, including elders who took several hours out of their lives to share stories of how they first painted the murals. The forthcoming study examines how meaning, history, and authorship are remembered differently over time. The in-depth interviews function as positional narratives (Avalos, 2006), not as representative or complete accounts. The analysis is centered on the fact that the history of murals at Chicano Park cannot be singular. The findings of this study come from key tensions such as contested authorship, interest-driven memory, and mural-making as ceremonial practice. Rather than seeking a singular authoritative account, the study treats disagreement, silence, and fragmentation as analytically meaningful, revealing how power, identity, and personal interests shape historical memory.
References
Avalos, (2006). Introduction. In V. Ochoa Orozco (Ed.), Chicano Park mural restoration technical manual (pp. 8-9). Caltrans District 11.
Chicano Park Museum, (n.d.). Murals. https://chicanoparkmuseum.org/murals/
Chicano Park Steering Committee, (n.d.). Chicano Park Mural Map. https://chicano-park.com/cpmap.html
Diaz, E. (2020, April 28). Fifty years ago, fed up with the city’s neglect, a San Diego community rose up to create Chicano Park. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/fifty-years-ago-fed-citys-neglect-san-diego-community-rose-create-chicano-park-180974764/
Grimm, T. B., & Noriega, C. A. (2013). Documenting Regional Latino Arts and Culture: Case Studies for a Collaborative, Community-Oriented Approach. American Archivist, 76(1), 95–112. https://doi-org.sandiego.idm.oclc.org/10.17723/aarc.76.1.ph222324p1g157t7
Macias, A. (2026) The Critical Oral History of the Chicano Park Murals. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of San Diego.
Mora, L. & Lopez, M. H. (2023, October 3). Key facts about U.S. Latinos with graduate degrees. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/03/key-facts-about-us-latinos-with-graduate-degrees/
National Parks Service (2016). National Historic Landmark Nomination Form – Chicano Park. https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/710320
Osorio, S. L. (2018). Border stories: using critical race and Latino critical theories to understand the experiences of Latino/a children. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(1), 92–104. https://doi-org.sandiego.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1195351
Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose Culture Has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91. https://doi-org.sandiego.idm.oclc.org/https://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=PVHHP6UG21PUR3CF
Yosso, T. J. (2006). Critical race counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano educational pipeline. Routledge.
Valdes, F. (1997). Foreword: Under Construction. LatCrit Consciousness, Community, and Theory. California Law Review, 85(5), 1087. https://doi.org/10.2307/3481057
Valdes, F. (2005). Legal Reform and Social Justice: An Introduction to LatCrit Theory, Praxis and Community. Griffith Law Review, 14(2), 148–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10383441.2005.10854554
About the author
Abel R. Macias is a PhD candidate in the Education for Social Justice program in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego. He also lectures in Chicana/o Studies at San Diego State University.
