Mexican Muralism May 30, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITAmerican History, Art History, Mexican History Lead: At the root of the explosion of graffiti on American public spaces was the revolutionary artistic movement known as Mexican Muralism. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Murals have been around since prehistoric times, but the modern genesis of the term in part originated with the Mexican "muralista" art movement. In the years following the Mexican revolution, during the 1920s and 1930s, native art, often with a powerful political message, began to decorate blank walls all over Mexico. Varying in quality, murals helped turn the cities into works of art. Muralists used open public spaces to call attention to a troubled society’s dreams, needs and hopes, revealing the need for social transformation. These murals could not be quickly eradicated, though the authorities tried. They were in-your-face, provocative, and demonstrated insistent demands by the artists for social justice. Download [75.84 KB]
Texas Invades New Mexico January 9, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITAmerican History, American Politics, Mexican History Lead: After independence the new Republic of Texas experienced some acute growing pains. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. The disaster of the Alamo was soon followed by the defeat of Mexican General Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Sam Houston's experience as Governor of Tennessee and popularity as the architect of Texas' victory carried him into the Presidency of the New Republic. Download [5.65 KB]
Mexican Muralism November 27, 2018PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITArt History, Mexican History Lead: At the root of the explosion of graffiti on American public spaces was the revolutionary artistic movement known as Mexican Muralism. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Murals have been around since prehistoric times, but the modern genesis of the term in part originated with the Mexican "muralista" art movement. In the years following the Mexican revolution, during the 1920s and 1930s, native art, often with a powerful political message, began to decorate blank walls all over Mexico. Varying in quality, murals helped turn the cities into works of art. Muralists used open public spaces to call attention to a troubled society’s dreams, needs and hopes, revealing the need for social transformation. These murals could not be quickly eradicated, though the authorities tried. They were in-your-face, provocative, and demonstrated insistent demands by the artists for social justice. Download [76.23 KB]
Mexican Muralism January 31, 2018PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITAmerican History, Art History, Mexican History, Social Justice Movements Lead: At the root of the explosion of graffiti on American public spaces was the revolutionary artistic movement known as Mexican Muralism. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Murals have been around since prehistoric times, but the modern genesis of the term in part originated with the Mexican "muralista" art movement. In the years following the Mexican revolution, during the 1920s and 1930s, native art, often with a powerful political message, began to decorate blank walls all over Mexico. Varying in quality, murals helped turn the cities into works of art. Muralists used open public spaces to call attention to a troubled society’s dreams, needs and hopes, revealing the need for social transformation. These murals could not be quickly eradicated, though the authorities tried. They were in-your-face, provocative, and demonstrated insistent demands by the artists for social justice. Download [75.84 KB]
1968: Mexico City Student Protests II September 24, 2017PermalinkSandy CreedToday's AMIT1968, Mexican History Introduction: A Moment in Time, 1968: A special series on the 40th anniversary of a year of upheaval, in a world seemingly out of control. Content: In high summer 1968, a minor incident between two rival Mexico City high schools launched a national movement protesting government oppression and uniting left and right wing university students, faculty, and labor unions. With that ham-handed sense of public relations semi-democratic or single party states nearly always acquire when under assault, the Mexican government panicked and resorted to violence to suppress this student movement. It saw the marches and protests as an embarrassing challenge to Mexican tranquility, the regime’s authority and the idyllic image Mexico was creating of itself for the outside world, set to visit during the up-coming summer Olympics in October 1968. Read more →
1968: Mexico City Student Protests I September 23, 2017PermalinkSandy CreedToday's AMIT1968, Mexican History Introduction: A Moment in Time, 1968: A special series on the 40th anniversary of a year of upheaval, in a world seemingly out of control. Content: Until the middle of 1968, it seemed as though Mexico would be spared the unrest and violence that was sweeping the rest of the world. Despite the occasional outburst from labor unions and student groups over the years, quickly suppressed by the regular police and the infamous and brutal riot police, granaderos, Mexican society remained an intensely conservative one. It was seemingly devoted to its one-party state dominated since the 1920s by the PRI, the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The so-called, “el milagro Mexicano,” the Mexican miracle, over three decades of unprecedented economic growth had boosted incomes, although unevenly, and began a significant expansion of the Mexican middle class. Read more →
Texas Invades New Mexico May 1, 2017PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITAmerican History, Mexican History, Military History Lead: After independence the new Republic of Texas experienced some acute growing pains. Tag: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. The disaster of the Alamo was soon followed the defeat of Mexican General Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Sam Houston's experience as Governor of Tennessee and popularity as the architect of Texas' victory carried him into the Presidency of the New Republic. Read more →
