A Better Tomorrow

Montoya was a significant artist throughout El Movimiento, a nationwide civil rights effort that called for self-empowerment and social justice. The political graphics of this era were defiant and aspirational efforts aimed at lauding the strength of communal uprising and emboldening personal and cultural pride. A new generation of artists continues Montoya’s fundamental tenets of El Movimiento — such as efforts to stop police brutality and collective education — through applying their art to causes like Black Lives Matter (BLM) and LGBTQ+ rights. The inherent need to demand a hopeful future defines a continuing thread across artistic generations: Together, they will fight for the marginalized, challenge injustice, and guide us into a new and improved society.

Resources

Susy Zepeda is an associate professor in the UC Davis Department of Chicana/o Studies. Her research focuses on cultural memory, Xicana Indígena spirit work, and oral and visual storytelling. Zepeda recently published her first book, Queering Mesoamerican Diasporas: Remembering Xicana Indígena Ancestries. In conjunction with the section A Better Tomorrow, Professor Zepeda has provided websites and essays that further illuminate the current state of protest art in the United States. 

 


Professor Lorena Márquez’s research focuses on Chicana/o history, movements, feminisms and oral histories. She is an associate professor in the UC Davis Department of Chicana/o Studies and the project director of the Sacramento Movimiento Chicano and Mexican American Education Oral History Project. The resources she recommends for the section, A Better Tomorrow, feature books that expand and build upon Montoya’s central role as an artist throughout El Movimiento

  • Lorena V. Márquez, La Gente: Struggles for Empowerment and Community Self-Determination in Sacramento (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2020).
  • Ella María Díaz, Flying Under the Radar with the Royal Chicano Air Force: Mapping a Chicana/o Art History (Austin: University of Texas, 2017).
  • Carlos Francisco Jackson, Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte (Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 2009).
  • Ian F. Haney López, Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003).
  • Lorena Oropeza and Dionne Espinoza, Enriqueta Vásquez and the Chicano Movement (Houston: Arte Público Press, 2006).
  • Ignacio M. García, United We Win: The Rise and Fall of La Raza Unida Party (Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1989).
  • Matt García, From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement (Berkeley: University of California, 2012).