In Las Vegas, New Mexico, there is an 11-panel mural of the people’s history of El Norte that captures historical and contemporary issues of the local community. In a July 2024 interview with Tom Wilmer of KCBX-FM radio (~28:50), Rock Ulibarri explains how he and Miguel Angel, with Casa de Cultura, approached the project:
…We were talking about Howard [Zinn] and how he apologizes in his People’s History of the United States that he doesn’t know enough about resistance movements of the Southwest like he does in the East. So we took that as a challenge. We do not have the power to publish traditional text. So what we do is we paint our stories, we illustrate our history through murals. We had a forum. We went all over San Miguel County and asked people what they thought, what stories needed to be told to them, things that are missing in the history books. And we did a survey of 350 people. So everything on there is like community-driven, their idea what they wanted to be on the mural.
Learn more about the mural at Visit Las Vegas, New Mexico and listen to the full interview with Ulibarri at KCXB.org.
Overview of the Mural
Below is an introduction to the project and a view of all 11 panels. Each panel also has its own introductory video. View all videos at Visit Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Mural Images
Sources: Casa de Cultura Las Vegas, NM and HowardZinn.org Facebook Pages
Is there a people's history mural in your community?
We love to share artistic renderings of people’s history. Please let us know if you come across one or have been involved in a project.
