La Raza (newspaper)
A bilingual Chicano newspaper and later magazine that documented and helped organize the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles from 1967 to 1977.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
La Raza was a bilingual newspaper and magazine published in Los Angeles during a formative decade of the Chicano Movement. Established in 1967 by Episcopalian Reverend John Luce, Cuban-born activist Eliezer Risco, Ruth Robinson, and a small group of collaborators, it originated in the basement of the Church of the Epiphany in Lincoln Heights. The publication was created in response to what its founders viewed as the failure of large media organizations to represent the experiences, grievances, and political aspirations of Mexican Americans in Southern California. Its initial purpose was both journalistic and organizational: to provide a community voice while helping residents develop the confidence and structures needed for collective action. The first issue appeared in September 1967. During its early years, La Raza was an eight-page tabloid produced with limited equipment and distributed primarily in East Los Angeles and surrounding communities. Its reporting focused on educational inequality, police conduct, discrimination, housing and neighborhood conditions, labor and community politics, and the developing Chicano identity. Rather than presenting itself as a detached observer, the publication openly supported movement organizing and treated journalism as a tool for political education and mobilization. Its inaugural issue included Rodolfo 'Corky' Gonzales's poem 'I Am Joaquín' and an editorial calling on Chicanos to reject political marginalization and organize collectively. La Raza became especially influential through its coverage of the East Los Angeles walkouts of 1968. Thousands of high-school students left their classrooms to protest unequal educational conditions, and La Raza staff members helped advise organizers while documenting the demonstrations and the police response. The subsequent arrests of the East L.A. Thirteen, including several La Raza staff members, and a police raid on the publication's headquarters deepened its adversarial relationship with local authorities. The paper reported that unpublished materials, photographs, telephone lists, and political leaflets were taken during the raid. The defendants were eventually acquitted, while La Raza used its coverage to connect educational reform, freedom of expression, and police accountability. The publication's reach expanded rapidly as the Chicano Movement grew. A special issue on the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C., printed 100,000 copies with Quaker Church financing and circulated nationally. La Raza also adopted an explicitly anti-Vietnam War position and reported on national and international subjects from a Chicano perspective. In 1970, it changed from a tabloid newspaper to a larger magazine format. The change allowed longer articles, increased subscription prices, and more sustained political commentary, while coinciding with a shift toward greater involvement in Los Angeles politics. La Raza's photojournalism became one of its defining contributions. Its staff recorded protests, police actions, community meetings, and everyday conditions that were often absent from mainstream coverage. Its reporting on the August 1970 National Chicano Moratorium March was particularly consequential. Staff members Raul Ruiz and Joe Razo photographed the events surrounding the death of journalist Ruben Salazar at the Silver Dollar Cafe after a tear-gas projectile was fired into the establishment by Los Angeles County deputy sheriff Thomas Wilson. Their photographs became widely recognized images of the Chicano Movement and were eventually published by the Los Angeles Times with credit to La Raza. Ruiz and Razo also testified as community observers during the inquest. The magazine supported organizations and campaigns beyond conventional reporting. It helped provide a public platform for Católicos por la Raza, criticized the Catholic hierarchy's spending and representation policies, and covered protests against the construction of the new St. Basil's Catholic Church. It also promoted the growth of El Partido de la Raza Unida in Los Angeles and temporarily suspended publication while staff worked on voter registration and a state assembly campaign in 1971. These activities illustrated the publication's close relationship with movement politics, but also blurred the line between news organization, advocacy project, and political instrument. La Raza ceased publication in 1977. By that time, its staff and contributors had assembled an archive of approximately 25,000 photographs documenting major events and participants in the Chicano Movement. The archive is held by the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, preserving the publication's visual record as a major historical resource. Although defunct as a periodical, La Raza remains significant as an example of movement journalism that combined bilingual communication, investigative and photojournalistic documentation, community education, and direct political organizing.
History
La Raza emerged from the political and social ferment of Los Angeles's Mexican-American communities in 1967. Reverend John Luce, Eliezer Risco, and Ruth Robinson had encountered one another through work connected with Cesar Chavez's farmworker newspaper, El Malcriado. They concluded that urban Chicanos in Los Angeles needed an independent publication focused on their own conditions rather than a newspaper primarily oriented toward farm labor. Luce offered space and resources at the Church of the Epiphany, where the founding group developed the title La Raza and produced the earliest issues. The first issue was published in September 1967. It was bilingual, small in format, and explicitly activist. The publication's early platform addressed school inequality, inadequate facilities, the shortage of Mexican-American teachers and administrators, food access, cultural representation, and the need for community-controlled education. In December 1967, it announced the Barrio Union for Scholastic Community Action, or BUSCA, an educational initiative associated with Risco that emphasized bilingual literacy, Chicano history, cultural identity, and community participation. The paper's importance grew during the East Los Angeles walkouts of 1968. La Raza staff members helped advise student organizers and reported on the protests, particularly allegations of police violence. When thirteen organizers, including Risco and La Raza staff members Joe Razo, Moctezuma Esparza, and Fred Lopez, were indicted, police raided the publication's headquarters. The raid and prosecutions became central subjects of La Raza's reporting and contributed to its increasingly confrontational relationship with law enforcement. The defendants were acquitted in October 1968. La Raza continued to frame the episode as a conflict involving political repression, educational justice, and press freedom. The publication expanded beyond local reporting as the Chicano Movement became nationally visible. Its May 1968 special edition on the Poor People's Campaign received financial support from a Quaker church and reached a reported national distribution of 100,000 copies. La Raza also opposed the Vietnam War and covered Chicano participation in broader antiwar and civil-rights organizing. Its staff did not regard the paper as separate from movement activity; reporting, image-making, political education, and direct organizing were often conducted by the same people. Personnel changes altered the paper's direction. Disagreements over tone and the publication's relationship to barrio audiences led to Risco's departure in June 1969. Raul Ruiz and Joe Razo became co-editors, with Ruiz remaining the principal editor until publication ended. In November 1969, the offices moved to 3571 Terrace Drive, which became the publication's final headquarters and an important meeting place for activists. La Raza also became a platform for Católicos por la Raza, a movement that challenged the Catholic Church's treatment and representation of Chicanos. The December 1969 issue criticized Los Angeles Cardinal James Francis McIntyre and called for greater institutional support for Mexican-American communities. Later that month, Ruiz, Razo, Luis Garza, Fred Lopez, Roberto Gandara, and Richard Martinez were among La Raza-affiliated activists arrested during protests at St. Basil's Catholic Church. The conflict helped generate broader attention to Chicano demands, and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development later awarded grants to Chicano organizations, including groups in Los Angeles. In early 1970, La Raza changed from an eight-page tabloid into a roughly twenty-page magazine. The new format supported longer and more analytical articles and improved the publication's revenue model through higher subscription prices. It also coincided with a greater emphasis on Los Angeles politics. The magazine's photojournalism reached a wider public during the National Chicano Moratorium March on August 29, 1970. Ruiz and Razo photographed the events surrounding Ruben Salazar's death at the Silver Dollar Cafe after a sheriff's deputy fired a tear-gas projectile into the building. Their photographs became among the most enduring visual records of the movement, and the Los Angeles Times ultimately published them with La Raza attribution. The two editors also acted as community witnesses during the subsequent inquest. During the early 1970s, La Raza increasingly promoted independent Chicano political power. It supported El Partido de la Raza Unida, argued that Mexican-American voters should not remain tied to the established parties, and helped with registration efforts in Los Angeles. The publication suspended its own issues around a 1971 special state-assembly election so staff could work for the party and a campaign seeking to elect Ruiz. The effort did not register enough voters to secure the desired ballot access in that election, illustrating both the ambition and the practical limitations of movement journalism operating as a political organization. La Raza continued until 1977, when it ceased publication. Its legacy is preserved particularly through its photographic archive of approximately 25,000 images, now held by UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center. The archive and surviving issues document protests, police violence, educational struggles, religious activism, antiwar organizing, elections, and the construction of Chicano political identity. La Raza's historical importance lies not only in the stories it published but also in the way it functioned as an infrastructure for community mobilization and a challenge to mainstream media narratives.
- 1977
Publication ends
[1]The magazine ceases publication after approximately ten years.
- 1970
Conversion to magazine format
[1]La Raza ends its tabloid phase and adopts a larger magazine format.
- 1970
National Chicano Moratorium documentation
[1]La Raza photographs Ruben Salazar's death and other events at the major antiwar demonstration in Los Angeles.
- 1969
Editorial transition
[1]Risco leaves the publication and Ruiz and Razo become co-editors.
- 1968
East Los Angeles walkouts
[1]La Raza advises organizers and provides activist coverage of the student walkouts and ensuing arrests.
- 1968
Poor People's Campaign special edition
[1]The publication prints a nationally distributed special issue documenting the Poor People's Campaign.
- 1967
Founding in East Los Angeles
[1]John Luce, Eliezer Risco, Ruth Robinson, and collaborators establish La Raza at the Church of the Epiphany in Lincoln Heights.
- 1967
First issue published
[1]The inaugural bilingual issue appears in September, presenting the publication as an organizing voice for Los Angeles Chicanos.
Products and positioning
Movement-oriented bilingual journalism for Mexican-American and Chicano communities, combining news coverage, political advocacy, community education, and photojournalism.
Bilingual community newspaper · 1967
La Raza tabloid newspaper
The original format, published from 1967 through early 1970, consisted of compact issues produced for community distribution. It combined editorials, local reporting, educational commentary, movement news, political analysis, and photographs. Its activist approach made the paper a practical communications channel for student organizers, community groups, and Chicano political campaigns.
Bilingual political magazine · 1970
La Raza magazine
Beginning in 1970, the publication used a longer magazine format designed to carry more substantial articles and support higher subscription prices. The magazine broadened its coverage from East Los Angeles to national and international issues while maintaining a strong focus on Chicano politics, antiwar activism, police accountability, education, religion, and electoral organizing.
Historical image archive
La Raza photographic archive
La Raza's staff assembled approximately 25,000 photographs documenting demonstrations, police activity, community organizing, political figures, and everyday life during the Chicano Movement. The collection includes images from the National Chicano Moratorium and the events surrounding Ruben Salazar's death and is held by UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center.
Marketing campaigns
- 1971La Raza Unida voter-registration effort
Los Angeles · California
The magazine supported El Partido de la Raza Unida, used its office as a political base, and helped register voters for an independent Chicano electoral effort.
Outcome. The party did not register enough voters for the targeted November 1971 special election ballot access, and La Raza's staff returned to publication work afterward.
- 1970National Chicano Moratorium coverage
Los Angeles · United States
La Raza documented the August 29 anti-Vietnam War march and photographed the events surrounding Ruben Salazar's death.
Outcome. The photographs became widely recognized movement images and were published by the Los Angeles Times with credit to La Raza.
- 1969Católicos por la Raza advocacy
Los Angeles
La Raza gave Católicos por la Raza a public platform to criticize Catholic institutional priorities and demand stronger support and representation for Chicanos.
Outcome. The campaign contributed to wider attention to Chicano demands within the Catholic Church and preceded later grant support for Chicano organizations.
- 1968East Los Angeles walkouts
Los Angeles
The publication advised student organizers and reported on mass high-school protests against unequal educational conditions and limited Chicano representation.
Outcome. The coverage raised La Raza's profile and made it a key record of the walkouts, arrests, and police response.
- 1968Poor People's Campaign special edition
United States
La Raza produced a special issue on the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C., supported by Quaker Church financing.
Outcome. Approximately 100,000 copies were printed and distributed nationally, extending the publication's reach beyond Southern California.
- 1967BUSCA educational initiative
Los Angeles
La Raza announced the Barrio Union for Scholastic Community Action, a community-led educational project promoting bilingual literacy, Chicano history, cultural identity, and parent participation.
Outcome. The initiative reflected the publication's early effort to pair journalism with direct community education.
Brand decisions
1971
Temporary suspension for electoral organizingStrategyBackground
La Raza increasingly argued for independent Chicano political representation and supported La Raza Unida in Los Angeles.
Action taken
The publication suspended issues while staff worked on voter registration and an attempted state assembly campaign involving Raul Ruiz.
Aftermath
The effort did not produce sufficient voter registration for the targeted special-election ballot access, demonstrating the operational tension between publishing and direct political work.
1970
Move from tabloid newspaper to magazineGeneration changeBackground
After three years as an eight-page tabloid, the publication sought more space for political analysis and a stronger revenue base.
Action taken
La Raza adopted a roughly twenty-page magazine format and raised subscription prices.
Aftermath
The new format supported longer articles and coincided with a stronger emphasis on Los Angeles politics.
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