This flyer was designed by Irma C. Lerma Barbosa and Kathryn Garcia, members of the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF), to promote the 1974 Conferencia Femenil (Women’s Conference ’74) held at the Centro de Artistas Chicanos de Aztlán, then RCAF headquarters, in Sacramento, California.
Organized and led by Lerma, this day-long conference centered on increasing access to available support and acts of mutual “ayuda” (aid). The objective was to bring together women from the community and connect them to essential resources on career pathways, traditional medicinal healing, family planning, and the impact of affirmative action for ethnic Mexican women. At the heart of the event was the fundamental acknowledgment of Chicana’s central role in the struggle for social change. The panels fostered intergenerational conversations where Chicanas discussed their distinctive experiences, rethinking their place in the home, the family, the Chicana/o Movement, and U.S. society at large.
The 1974 Conferencia Femenil (Women’s Conference ’74) was the first women’s conference organized by the RCAF and co-sponsored by the Washington Community Council and the National Education Task Force de la Raza, now UnidosUS.
The Royal Chicano Air Force
Formed in 1970 as the Rebel Chicano Art Front by Sacramento State professors, José Montoya and Esteban Villa along with their art students, the collective became known for their posters and murals. As was true of other artists at the time, their art was not individually signed, but marked with the group’s initials: RCAF. After being confused with the Royal Canadian Air Force, they decided to call themselves the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF). After moving off-campus and establishing the nonprofit Centro de Artistas Chicanos in 1973, the RCAF was joined by members of La Raza Bookstore and Breakfast for Niños Program as well as other university students and professors, writers, photographers, musicians, dancers, community activists, and politicians. Together, they produced posters and community murals, art exhibitions, and literary programs as well as provided a free breakfast program for children, arts programs in schools, Chicano sports activities, and organized countless cultural and civic events and initiated annual spiritual ceremonies.
About donor:
Irma C. Lerma Barbosa is a Chicana Yaqui painter, printmaker, muralist, performance artist, Chicana civil rights activist, and community organizer deploying art to elevate marginalized voices and ignite collective action in the long struggle for social justice.
Lerma was born on June 10, 1949, in Elko, Nevada, to Yaqui Mexican parents with ancestral roots in the Pascua Yaqui Nation in Arizona and the Sierra Mountains of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. She grew up in Roseville and North Highlands in Sacramento County, California. Lerma became politically involved at an early age. As an agent of change, she worked with local community members and university students to identify and address issues affecting the Mexican community, participating in some of the most influential youth-led organizations of the Chicana/o Movement. Lerma joined the Brown Berets of Sacramento in 1969, later co-founding the Royal Chicano Air Force/RCAF in 1970 and Las CoMadres Artistas in 1992. From the late 1980s-1990s, she continued her commitment to social justice and civic engagement by working in the public and private sectors, including as president of the California State Employees Association, District Labor Council 787- Service Employees International Union.
In the late 1970s, Rodolfo “Rudy” Cuellar, an artist in the Royal Chicano Air Force, repurposed aprons from another screen print job to design and print this apron for La Raza Bookstore, located in Sacramento, CA. Established in 1972, the bookstore was the brainchild of RCAF member Philip “Pike” Santos who collaborated with Sacramento State University (presently CSUS) students, including Juan Gutierrez, Pete Hernández, Gilbert Gamino, and Louie "the Foot" González, to bring the idea to life. Two years later, future executive and artistic director Terezita “Tere” Romo joined as a volunteer. The main mission of the bookstore was to redress the lack of access to Chicano/a, and later Native American, publications.
In 1980, Tere Romo secured funds to add an art gallery, Galería Posada. The gallery served as an important platform for creating and amplifying Chicana/o and Native American art and culture. It became La Raza Galeria Posada to reflect this additional component. The organization, nurtured by artists, writers, community members, and activists, became a social hub and cultural center, offering literary and musical programs, art exhibitions, and fostering community activism. La Raza Galería Posada ceased to exist in 2014.
The Royal Chicano Air Force
La Raza Bookstore and La Raza Galeria Posada were part of the Royal Chicano Air Force. Formed in 1970 as the Rebel Chicano Art Front by Sacramento State professors José Montoya and Esteban Villa, along with their art students, the collective became known for their posters and murals. Montoya and Esteban Villa, along with their art students, the collective became known for their posters and murals. As was true of other artists at the time, their art was not individually signed, but marked with the group’s initials: RCAF. After being confused with the Royal Canadian Air Force, they decided to call themselves the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF). After moving off-campus and establishing the nonprofit Centro de Artistas Chicanos in 1973, the RCAF was joined by members of La Raza Bookstore and Breakfast for Niños Program as well as other university students and professors, writers, photographers, musicians, dancers, community activists, and politicians. Together, they produced posters and community murals, art exhibitions, and literary programs as well as provided a free breakfast program for children, arts programs in schools, Chicano sports activities, and organized countless cultural and civic events and initiated annual spiritual ceremonies.
About donor:
This object was donated by Irma C. Lerma Barbosa, a Chicana Yaqui painter, printmaker, muralist, performance artist, Chicana civil rights activist, and community organizer deploying art to elevate marginalized voices and ignite collective action in the long struggle for social justice.
Lerma was born on June 10, 1949, in Elko, Nevada, to Yaqui Mexican parents with ancestral roots in the Pascua Yaqui Nation in Arizona and the Sierra Mountains of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. She grew up in Roseville and North Highlands in Sacramento County, California. Lerma became politically involved at an early age. As an agent of change, she worked with local community members and university students to identify and address issues affecting the Mexican community, participating in some of the most influential youth-led organizations of the Chicana/o Movement. Lerma joined the Brown Berets of Sacramento in 1969, later co-founding the Royal Chicano Air Force/RCAF in 1970 and Las CoMadres Artistas in 1992. From the late 1980s-1990s, she continued her commitment to social justice and civic engagement by working in the public and private sectors, including as president of the California State Employees Association, District Labor Council 787- Service Employees International Union.
In the late 1960s, a young Irma C. Lerma Barbosa, an original member of the Sacramento Brown Berets chapter, designed and hand-sewed this flag. The organization formed as response to the social inequities confronting ethnic Mexican communities and the need for community protection. Through this flag, Irma gave the working-class Chicana/o youth of Sacramento, committed to the ideals “to observe, serve, and protect,” a symbol of identity, unity, resistance, and power.
The Brown Berets of Sacramento, led by Freddy Rodriguez, proudly displayed this flag during rallies, protests, and community celebrations where they provided security for the community against police brutality and harassment. This flag is an emblem of Mexican American civil rights history and women's significant yet often unacknowledged contributions in the long struggle for social justice, freedom, equality, and self-determination.
The Brown Berets
The Brown Berets, originally organized in 1966 as the Young Citizens for Community Action and later the Young Chicanos for Community Action, formalized in 1967 by working-class Mexican American youths under the leadership of David Sánchez and Carlos Montes in the barrio of East Los Angeles. The organization, modeled in part after the Black Panther Party, ignited a new generation of Chicana/o youth with a new style of politics, one that rejected assimilation into mainstream white society, took pride in their Mexican heritage, and practiced direct action to assert their right to self-determination.
By 1969, the Brown Berets became one of the most prominent Chicana/o organizations, with over 20 chapters nationwide. Their 13-Point Political Program centered on self-determination and social, political, cultural, and economic liberation. The LA chapter supported the health and educational needs of the local community. They created the El Barrio Free Clinic (1968-1970), spearheaded by Gloria Arellanes, Chicana and Tongva heritage, supported high school students during the East LA Walkouts (1968), advocated for the development of ethnic studies on university campuses, and were part of the broad-based coalition the National Chicano Moratorium Committee Against the Vietnam War. The organization also published the newspaper La Causa that ran from 1969 to 1972.
Internal conflicts over leadership and direction led to the disbandment of the organization in 1972. Chicanas in the organization spoke out against the entrenched misogynistic culture of the Berets. Gloria Arellanes created the independent organization Las Adelitas de Aztlán in 1970. Today, several independent Brown Beret chapters remain active across the United States.
About donor:
Irma C. Lerma Barbosa is a Chicana Yaqui painter, printmaker, muralist, performance artist, Chicana civil rights activist, and community organizer deploying art to elevate marginalized voices and ignite collective action in the long struggle for social justice.
Lerma was born on June 10, 1949, in Elko, Nevada, to Yaqui Mexican parents with ancestral roots in the Pascua Yaqui Nation in Arizona and the Sierra Mountains of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. She grew up in Roseville and North Highlands in Sacramento County, California. Lerma became politically involved at an early age. As an agent of change, she worked with local community members and university students to identify and address issues affecting the Mexican community, participating in some of the most influential youth-led organizations of the Chicana/o Movement. Lerma joined the Brown Berets of Sacramento in 1969, later co-founding the Royal Chicano Air Force/RCAF in 1970 and Las CoMadres Artistas in 1992. From the late 1980s-1990s, she continued her commitment to social justice and civic engagement by working in the public and private sectors, including as president of the California State Employees Association, District Labor Council 787- Service Employees International Union.