LA RAZA GALERIA POSADA REVIVAL
In 2024, La Raza Galeria Posada (LRGP) was reclaimed and revived by RCAF artists, their descendants, and community supporters. It is not related to the Latino Center of Art and Culture. Our mission includes documentation of RCAF history; the curation and presentation of artist and community focused projects; and the cultivation of community collaborations. We also support the RCAF’s annual Dia de los Muertos observance at St. Mary’s Cemetery, which is the oldest in the region and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025. Along with continuing the RCAF’s spirit of art and activism, LRGP will educate present and future generations about the RCAF and its LRGP’s artistic contributions and community impact. LRGP has an intergenerational Advisory Committee comprised of culture bearers, artists, and community activists: Sra. Angelbertha Cobb, Juan Carrillo, Stan Padilla, David Rasul, Terezita Romo, Lupe Portillo, Pat Aguirre, George Singh, Cristina Mora, Lita Portillo Sandoval, Amar Azucena Cid, Xochitl Arellano, and Maceo Montoya. It is supported by tax exempt donations through its fiscal sponsor, Sol Collective.
Through its revival, we will be able to educate the public not only about the Royal Chicano Air Force but also the LRGP’s origins and contributions to Chicana/o and Native American art and the Sacramento region’s cultural history. We look forward to sharing more soon!
The RCAF’s La Raza Bookstore
We could have called it the Chicano Bookstore. But we didn’t. We called it La Raza Bookstore so as not to leave anybody out. ‘La Raza’ is all-inclusive of peoples from this continent.
Philip Santos and Luis “Louie” González, 2024
Photograph Héctor González, 1973
La Raza Bookstore (LRB) was founded in 1972 by Sacramento State (CSUS) students Philip “Pike” Santos, Juan Gutierrez, Luis “Louie” González, and Pedro “Pete” Hernandez, with the support of MEChA. It was initially located at 1228 F Street in the Alkali Flat neighborhood and featured a mural by RCAF artist, Armando Cid. Titled Por la Raza United Flight (1973), it incorporated a photograph of RCAF cofounder, José Montoya in flight regalia taken by Louie’s brother, Héctor González. The founders of LRB were part of the larger Chicano sociopolitical movement that was at its height in the 1970s throughout the U.S. Southwest. As the state capitol, Sacramento was an epicenter for the Movement’s United Farm Workers’ boycotts and marches. Chicano students also flexed their political muscle through student organizations such as MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan), which had a strong chapter at “Sac State.” As a MECHA member and former president, Santos secured La Raza Bookstore’s business license under their auspices. During its first decade, the volunteer-run bookstore expanded its Chicana/o offerings to include Spanish language and Native American books and records, along with posters and merchandise from El Taller Grafico, the UFW’s merchandising arm. In 1975, it incorporated as a nonprofit organization and in 1979 expanded into an adjacent building, tripling its space.
La Raza Bookstore’s first site, 1972 - 1987
LA RAZA GALERIA POSADA
After securing a grant from the California Arts Council, the original LRB space became a gallery in 1980, opening with a traveling exhibition of the Mexican master printmaker, José Guadalupe Posada’s (1852 – 1913) broadsides from the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego. The exhibition was not only timely but also welcomed given Posada’s impact on several RCAF artists. Two years later, in recognition of its expanded mission and programs, it became La Raza Galeria Posada, keeping “La Raza” in its name to honor Chicanas/os’ Indigenous roots as a mixed-race people and adding “Galeria Posada” in honor of the influential Mexican printmaker. As with La Raza Bookstore, Native American artists were included in LRGP’s exhibitions and multidisciplinary programming. Along with invited guest curators, a curatorial committee was formed consisting of Chicana/o and Native American artists, curators, and scholars. LRGP also provided opportunities for local and national artists, writers, performers, and culture bearers to share their work with the community and with each other. This inclusion of Native Americans continued until the early 2000s.
Evicted by the landlord to make room for an apartment complex in 1986, LRGP moved to the former (Benny) Barrios Gallery on 15th and G Streets, where it remained until 1991. The larger two-story building allowed it to expand its Chicana/o, Latina/o, and Native American bookstore items and public programming, as well as increase its gallery space. In 1992, through the efforts of Mayor Joe Serna, Jr., LRGP was gifted the Heilbron mansion on the corner of 7th and O Streets, where it remained until 1999 when it moved to a commercial building along the 15th and R Street corridor. Its final location was on 22nd Street, between J and K Streets in Midtown and in 2014, the RCAF organization ceased to exist.
Rudy O. Cuellar and Luis C González José G. Posada exhibition poster, 1980
LRGP, 1982