Central American Solidarity L.A. Network Collection
The Central American Solidarity L.A. Network Collection was created during the semester of Spring 2017, through the Cal State LA Special Collections & Archives internship of Gladys Garcia. This collection consists of publications and materials related to Central American Solidarity Networks in Los Angeles from the late-1970s to mid-1990s which were housed in the Latin American Studies Center of Cal State LA. These materials were acquired over the course of three decades by a number of faculty members and students in the Latin American Studies program.
View Central American Solidarity Collection Guide
Salvadoran Refugees Audio Cassette Collection, Escuchen Nuestras Voces (Hear Our Voices)
The Salvadoran Refugee Audio Cassette Collection, Escuchen Nuestras Voces (Hear Our Voices), is approximately ten hours of songs and poems by Salvadoran refugees, recorded in August 1983 by members of the music group, Sabiá, in the UN refugee camp of Mesa Grande. The Mesa Grande refugee camp, located 30 miles from the border of El Salvador in Honduras, housed over 10,000 refugees in 1983, most of which were children, women, and elderly people from the rural provinces of Cabañas, Chalatenango, and Morazán in northern El Salvador. They had fled into Honduras to escape Salvadoran Army counter-insurgency tactics that included the murder, torture, and rape of unarmed peasants and the destruction of entire villages through the burning of houses and crops. Their stories are told through songs and poems which give testimony to their violent past, depict their present life in the refugee camp, and express their strong will to survive and undaunted faith in the future. Firmly rooted in oral traditions, these songs and poems represent the refugees’ collective memory; they document the trauma they endured and ensure that the past will not be forgotten.
View Salvadoran Refugees Collection Guide
Central American "Memoria Historica" Archive
The Central American Memoria Histórica Archive (CAMHA) at Cal State LA is a multi-year visual ethnic history research project to digitize and archive the visual and material culture of Central American activists, leaders, community groups, artists, and collectives in Los Angeles. The project supports the visual preservation of Central American community history and civic participation in Los Angeles as well as documents the transnational social, cultural and political life of Central American communities from the 1950s to the present.