In March of 1968, five thousand Mexican American high school students walked of the four high schools in East Los Angeles to protest the inferior education they were receiving. After a week of protest and arrest, parents, teachers and students came together and formed the Educational Issues Coordinating Committee (EICC) to advocate for educational reform in the Los Angles school district.
A year later, the same group of students, parents and teachers decided that the cultural life of the Chicano community as being overlooked. They decided that Lincoln High School should be the site of a Fiesta de los Barrios where the creative expressions of the people of the barrio could be celebrated. The Fiesta de Los Barrios took place over the Cinco de Mayo week-end in May, 1969. More than 10,000 people attended to peruse the halls of Lincoln High hanging with art work by community artists, and celebrate music, folkloric dancing and Chicano food. This photo probably taken on May 10, 1969, shows many of the participants “getting down” with dancing to Chicano music bands.
Photo to Credit: Jesús Treviño. Photo copyright by Barrio Dog Productions, Inc. .