Personal and professional papers of Ricardo Favela, American artist, professor, civil rights activist, and founding member of the Chicano art collective group Royal Chicano Air Force.

Born in the San Joaquin Valley to migrant farm worker parents, Ricardo Favela (January 13, 1944 – July 15, 2007) well understood the experience of American Mexican immigrants. He went on to attend college at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, and then California State University Sacramento where he received his B.A. in 1971. It was during the pursuit of his first degree that he became a fixture of Chicano Art. Favela along with Rudy Cuellar, Jose Montoya, Juanishi Orosco and Esteban Villa founded the activist artist group the Rebel Chicano Art Front, which later became known as the Royal Chicano Air Force, or RCAF. The RCAF was best known for its paintings, murals and posters but the group established itself as a collective through its use of wry humor and biting wit to express difficult cultural dialectics. The RCAF managed to tackle the most difficult problems of the day, problems dealing with the unique placement of Chicano identity, while maintaining a forward looking optimism.

50 Linear Feet; (33 cartons, 11 document boxes, 3 oversized flat boxes)

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