Exhibits & Displays

California History Room

Gallery Exhibit

Viva La Lucha: Art and Work of the Royal Chicano Air Force

A red silhouette of a man holding a megaphone in one hand and a flag in the other standing in front of a yellow background with repeated text that reads “viva la huelga viva la manana.”

January – end of December 2023

900 N Street, 2nd Floor Gallery

Stop by Mondays–Fridays, 8:00am – 5:00pm, to see our exhibit featuring artwork by RCAF founding members José Montoya, Esteban Villa, Louie “the Foot” González, Rudy Cuellar, Juan Carrillo, Juanishi Orosco, Ricardo Favela, and Juan Cervantes, as well as prints by Chicana artists – most of them members of RCAF – including Irma C. Lerma-Barbosa, Patricia Rodriguez, Irene Perez, Kathryn García, Lorenza Campusano de Camplis, Carmen Lomas Garza, María Pinedo, and Kate Connell. The exhibit also includes a handful of materials documenting some of the many organizations affiliated with the RCAF, including the Centro de Artistas Chicanos and La Raza Bookstore/Galería Posada.

Reading Room Book Display

Spotlight on Fiction and Reading

Cover of Displacement by Kiku Hughes showing people arriving at an incarceration camp. Quote on cover states, “poignant and powerful… a work of art that is both timely and timeless.” John Jennings, author of Kindred, a graphic novel adaptation.

October through December 2023

900 N Street, 2nd Floor, California History Reading Room

For our Fall/Winter 2023 displays, we’re highlighting fiction, reading, and related topics. Materials featured include new acquisitions of books by California authors or on California-focused topics, including Displacement (pictured), a graphic novel by Kiku Hughes that blends historical and science fiction as it follows a young adult displaced from contemporary California to the incarceration camp that her Japanese American grandmother was removed to in the 1940s during World War II. The display also features samples from our California History and Special Collections holdings — along with books, you can also see bookplates, buttons, and bookmarks; materials on the subject of printing; and photographs depicting various aspects of life with books. They’re on view through the end of December, so stop by during our Reading Room hours, Tuesday–Thursday, 9:30–4:00. We hope to see you there!