SPARC: Great Wall of Los Angeles: Ernestine Jimenez Testimonial

Ernestine Jimenez came to the Great Wall of LA as a 14 year old and pregnant. Here she is at the age of 44. SPARC's belief that the tangible in our work lies in the power of testimony, Ernestine's testimony illuminates this belief so powerfully. 1976-Present: The Great Wall of Los Angeles 1/2 mile long Mural/Education Project is one of Los Angeles' true cultural landmarks and one of the country's most respected and largest monuments to inter-racial harmony. SPARC's first public art project and its true signature piece, the Great Wall is a landmark pictorial representation of the history of ethnic peoples of California from prehistoric times to the 1950's, conceived by SPARC's artistic director and founder Judith F. Baca. Begun in 1974 and completed over six summers, the Great Wall employed over 400 youth and their families from diverse social and economic backgrounds working with artists, oral historians, ethnologists, scholars, and hundreds of community members.