The Long Beach Historical Society has opened a new exhibit, dubbed “Centro de la Raza,” to honor and memorialize the city’s Chicano heritage.
Centro de la Raza, otherwise known as the East Long Beach Neighborhood Center, opened in 1969 after the city’s Mexican American/Chicano population saw a 400% percent increase during the decade prior.
The Center, along with its founding members — dubbed the Chicano Six — played a crucial role in galvanizing Long Beach’s Chicano movement and advocating for the community.
The Historical Society’s exhibit will tell the story of Centro de la Raza and the Chicano Six through the work of photographer John Taboada.
Taboada, born in Indio, attended College of the Desert before transferring to Cal State Long Beach — where he joined the Chicano movement and began working at Centro de la Raza as an art teacher and photographer.
His photos, taken between 1970 and 1985, capture Centro de la Raza’s impact in Long Beach.
“Members of the Long Beach Chicano Community History Committee, made up of former Centro members,” HSLB’s website said, “have recently devoted countless hours to the digitization and identification of these rare images.”
The photos, HLSB added, have never been publicly displayed before.
The exhibit, which opened on Friday, March 29, will run through the year at the Long Beach Historical Society, 4260 Atlantic Ave.
Visit hslb.org for more information about the exhibit.
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