La Raza Bookstore apron
date: label: date made
content: 1960s
label: date made
content: 1970s
notes: label: Description
content: In the late 1970s, Rodolfo “Rudy” Cuellar, an artist in the Royal Chicano Air Force, repurposed aprons from another screen print job to design and print this apron for La Raza Bookstore, located in Sacramento, CA. Established in 1972, the bookstore was the brainchild of RCAF member Philip “Pike” Santos who collaborated with Sacramento State University (presently CSUS) students, including Juan Gutierrez, Pete Hernández, Gilbert Gamino, and Louie "the Foot" González, to bring the idea to life. Two years later, future executive and artistic director Terezita “Tere” Romo joined as a volunteer. The main mission of the bookstore was to redress the lack of access to Chicano/a, and later Native American, publications.
label: Description
content: In 1980, Tere Romo secured funds to add an art gallery, Galería Posada. The gallery served as an important platform for creating and amplifying Chicana/o and Native American art and culture. It became La Raza Galeria Posada to reflect this additional component. The organization, nurtured by artists, writers, community members, and activists, became a social hub and cultural center, offering literary and musical programs, art exhibitions, and fostering community activism. La Raza Galería Posada ceased to exist in 2014.
label: Description
content: The Royal Chicano Air Force
label: Description
content: La Raza Bookstore and La Raza Galeria Posada were part of the Royal Chicano Air Force. Formed in 1970 as the Rebel Chicano Art Front by Sacramento State professors José Montoya and Esteban Villa, along with their art students, the collective became known for their posters and murals. Montoya and Esteban Villa, along with their art students, the collective became known for their posters and murals. As was true of other artists at the time, their art was not individually signed, but marked with the group’s initials: RCAF. After being confused with the Royal Canadian Air Force, they decided to call themselves the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF). After moving off-campus and establishing the nonprofit Centro de Artistas Chicanos in 1973, the RCAF was joined by members of La Raza Bookstore and Breakfast for Niños Program as well as other university students and professors, writers, photographers, musicians, dancers, community activists, and politicians. Together, they produced posters and community murals, art exhibitions, and literary programs as well as provided a free breakfast program for children, arts programs in schools, Chicano sports activities, and organized countless cultural and civic events and initiated annual spiritual ceremonies.
label: Description
content: About donor:
label: Description
content: This object was donated by Irma C. Lerma Barbosa, a Chicana Yaqui painter, printmaker, muralist, performance artist, Chicana civil rights activist, and community organizer deploying art to elevate marginalized voices and ignite collective action in the long struggle for social justice.
label: Description
content: Lerma was born on June 10, 1949, in Elko, Nevada, to Yaqui Mexican parents with ancestral roots in the Pascua Yaqui Nation in Arizona and the Sierra Mountains of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. She grew up in Roseville and North Highlands in Sacramento County, California. Lerma became politically involved at an early age. As an agent of change, she worked with local community members and university students to identify and address issues affecting the Mexican community, participating in some of the most influential youth-led organizations of the Chicana/o Movement. Lerma joined the Brown Berets of Sacramento in 1969, later co-founding the Royal Chicano Air Force/RCAF in 1970 and Las CoMadres Artistas in 1992. From the late 1980s-1990s, she continued her commitment to social justice and civic engagement by working in the public and private sectors, including as president of the California State Employees Association, District Labor Council 787- Service Employees International Union.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Associated Place
content: United States: California, Sacramento
topic: label: associated communities
content: Latinx history
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Civil Rights Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Irma C. Lerma Barbosa
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0279.02
label: accession number
content: 2022.0279
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0279.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bookstore apron
label: Object Name
content: apron
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: red (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 27 in x 28 in; 68.58 cm x 71.12 cm