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A Day In Denver History

A Celebration of Art in Denver's Chicano Civil Rights Movement

Posted on March 4, 2024   |   Updated on September 30, 2025
Bree Davies

Bree Davies

Teenage members of the Ballet Chicano de Aztlán, 1970.

Teenage members of the Ballet Chicano de Aztlán, 1970. (Denver Public Libraries Special Collection / AUR-2276)

From muralism and sculptural work to theater productions and protest songs, art played a central role in the national Chicano Civil Rights movement. In Denver, the Crusade for Justice — an organization that embraced liberation through political, educational, social, and cultural means — was heavily structured around the arts, as seen here with its Ballet Chicano de Aztlán dance troupe. Some young women and men who were part of the Crusade For Justice traveled to Mexico to study with the Ballet Folklórico Nacional de México and bring that knowledge back to their Denver community. 

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