Josephine "Josie" Talamantez is a historian from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. She co-founded

Chicano Park Chicano Park is a 32,000 square meter (7.9 acre) park located beneath the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan, a predominantly Chicano or Mexican American and Mexican-migrant community in central San Diego, California. The park is home to ...

in 1970 and helped develop it into a cultural

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

containing the largest collection of artistic murals in the United States. Talamantez was also the Chief of Programs for the

California Arts Council The California Arts Council is a state agency based in Sacramento, United States. Its eight council members are appointed by the Governor and the state Legislature. The agency's mission is to advance California through arts, culture and creativi ...

, served as the director of the

Centro Cultural de la Raza The Centro Cultural de la Raza (Spanish for ''Cultural Center of the People'') is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American and Latino art and culture. ...

, and was on the board of the

National Association of Latino Arts and Culture The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) is a San Antonio, Texas-based, non-profit organization dedicated to Latin American art, Latino art and culture. It is the United States' primary arts organization dedicated towards the ...

Biography

Josephine Talamantez was born and raised in the Logan Heights neighborhood of San Diego. She attended

San Diego High School San Diego High School (SDHS) is an urban public high school located on the southern edge of Balboa Park, in San Diego, California, United States. It is the oldest high school in the San Diego Unified School District, one of the oldest public sch ...

and received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. She received a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

public history Public history is a broad range of activities undertaken by people with some training in the discipline of history who are generally working outside of specialized academic settings. Public history practice is deeply rooted in the areas of historic ...

from

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

. Her grandmother moved to Logan Heights in the early 20th century, and Talamantez is the third generation to live in that area. Talamantez was the Chief of Programs for the

from 1987-2011. She also served as the executive director of the

, and was on the board of the

Creation and stewardship of Chicano Park

In 1970, the

California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enfor ...

announced they were planning to build a substation below the Coronado bridge, replacing a potential park area that was there. Local residents, including Talamantez, responded by staging a 12-day occupation and successfully demanded that the space be allowed to remain a park. Talamantez, who was 18 years old and a student at

San Diego City College San Diego City College (City College or City) is a public community college in San Diego, California. It is part of the San Diego Community College District and the California Community College System. San Diego City College is accredited by t ...

at the time, helped found the Chicano Park Steering Committee to negotiate with officials on behalf of the park. In 1973, Talamantez and others in the Steering Committee started discussing the addition of Mexican-American artwork to the park. Over the next 20 years, many pieces of artwork were added, including more than 70 murals by Chicano artists from across California, making the park the largest collection of murals in the United States. Other works of art in the park include

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...

, and an

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

piece dedicated to the cultural heritage of the community. Talamantez is currently working towards opening a Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center inside a nearby city-owned building that used to house the Cesar Chavez Continuing Education Center.

Landmark status

Talamantez successfully submitted the nomination of Chicano Park to the National Register in 2013. Talamantez and Manny Galaviz submitted the proposal that successfully included Chicano Park as a National Landmark due to its association with the

Chicano Movement The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican descent, especially of Pachucos in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Black ...

in 2016. In 1997, Talamantez began the process of placing Chicano Park with its artwork and murals on the National Register in order to prevent the city from damaging the murals while retrofitting

Coronado Bridge Coronado may refer to: People * Coronado (surname) * Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (1510–1554), Spanish explorer often referred to simply as "Coronado" * Coronado Chávez (1807–1881), President of Honduras from 1845 to 1847 Places United St ...

. Years later, Talamantez traveled to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to make a case before a national review and advisory committee, and Chicano Park was successfully designated as a

in December 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talamantez, Josephine Living people American historians Year of birth missing (living people) San Diego High School alumni