Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?

This poster by Yolanda López is one of the most iconic images created during the Chicano Art Movement. Originally commissioned by the Committee on Chicano Rights, the first version was produced in 1978, in response to President Carter’s Immigration Plan, which made it illegal to hire undocumented workers. The poster was reprinted in 1981, and again in 1994, as a response to California’s Proposition 187, which sought to deny education and healthcare to undocumented immigrants.  

Taking as a point of departure Uncle Sam’s “I Want You” posters, the artist shows a man in Aztec garb pointing his finger towards the viewer to remind them of who owned these lands before the arrival of European colonizers. López, who modeled this portrait after a personal friend, approaches this image as a feminist. She moves away from the stoic representations of well-known leaders to depict a person expressing a strong emotional reaction as he questions the authority of the state to define who has the legal right to live in this territory.