Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Puerto Ricans--New York...
William “Ninja” Ruiz is the brother of Mildred Ruiz-Sapp of Universes and they grew up in New York City on the Lower East Side. He earned his BA in Theatre at Bard College where he also studied poetry. Today he makes his home in Santurce,...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); African Americans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Black Panther Party....
Wanda Ross grew up in Chicago, the granddaughter of migrants from the southern United States. Shortly after she began college, she started attending political education classes taught by “Teach” of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Education--Illinois--Chicago;...
Ada Nivía López was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Chicago with her family in 1956. She describes life in Lincoln Park in those early days, including her Father´s leadership in Latino community and his run for alderman in the early 1960s. She...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); African Americans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Black Panther Party....
Melvin Lewis was born in Chicago but today lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina. His parents live in
Maywood, Illinois. This is the same town where Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party (BPP) grew up.
It is also where, at Maywood’s City Hall,...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Mexican Americans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Mexican...
Ricardo Rebollar is from one of the first Mexican families to live in Lincoln Park, settling around Sheffield and Clybourn Streets and remaining there more than 30 years. Mr. Rebollar attended school with Young Lords founder José “Cha-Cha”...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Spanish language--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community...
Ramón Rodríguez is a semi-retired school teacher who lives in the Lao Frío section of San Salvador,
overlooking the home of his father Dimas Rodríguez Flores. He first met his cousin, José “Cha- Cha”
Jiménez in 1963 when Mr. Jiménez was...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Urban renewal--Illinois--Chicago;...
Patricia Devine-Reed was the leader of the Concerned Citizens of Lincoln Park (later called the Concerned Citizens Survival Front of Lincoln Park), the first group to protest urban renewal plans on the grounds that Puerto Ricans and African...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Puerto Rico--Autonomy and...
Primitivo Cruz is a Young Lord at heart who studied at DePaul University. He has researched and written several poems and papers on the Young Lords. Mr. Cruz performed several of his poems and songs at the Young Lords 40th Anniversary, celebrating...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Mexican Americans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Students--Civil rights
Omar López was Minister of Information for the Young Lords. He was born in Mexico and first came to Chicago in 1958, settling in the Humboldt Park Neighborhood where he has lived ever since. He first met some Young Lords in Lincoln Park when they...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Puerto...
Obed López-Zacarias is founder of the Latin American Defense Organization (LADO), that organized for a caseworker union and for the dignified treatment of welfare recipients at the Wicker Park Welfare Office of Chicago. LADO was also instrumental...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Puerto Ricans--Illinois--Chicago--Social...
Mike Lawson is a civil rights activist who first met Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez in 1968, after Mr. Jiménez was released from prison. At that time, Mr. Lawson was in charge of a G.E.D. program for ex-offenders that already had enrolled a...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Puerto...
Martha López grew up in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and recalls the thriving Puerto Rican community there, especially the youth groups, Caballeros de San Juan, and the Young Lords. She also recalls being attacked “from the whites and...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Chicago (Ill.)--Politics and...
Jack Hart was a primary assistant to Walter “Slim” Coleman during the Jiménez for Alderman Campaign of 1975. He continues to live and work in Chicago’s 46th Ward, primarily in the Uptown Community. In the 1970s, Hart was a member of the...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Rural-urban migration--Illinois--Chicago;...
Hy Thurman arrived in Chicago when he was seventeen years old from a small farming town in eastern Tennessee. Mr. Thurman co-founded the Young Patriots. In 1969, the Young Patriots became part of the original Rainbow Coalition, along with the Young...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Spanish language--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community...
Eugenia Rodríguez is the mother of José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez. She is the youngest of 13 children and was born in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico to Juan Rodríguez and Victoria Flores. They then moved to the Morena section of the barrio of San...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Spanish language--Personal...
Guillermo Martínez was born in Puerto Rico. In the 1950s he moved to Chicago, settling in the most northern and western edge of Lincoln Park, near Diversey Parkway and Ashland Avenue. Mr. Martínez describes his memories of Lincoln Park, including...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Latin...
Gloria Rosario grew up in Lincoln Park and Wicker Park during the 1960s, as those communities were becoming unstable, and the forced dislocations had already pushed many of the areas Latino pioneers from their homes. Ms. Rosario describes spending...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Spanish language--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community...
Francisca Medina lived for many years in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. She describes visiting with other Latinas on the streets of Lincoln Park, at laundromats, and in the large variety of Puerto Rican owned shops in the 1950s, a time when...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Spanish language--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community...
Eugenia Rodríguez is the mother of José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez. She is the youngest of 13 children and was born in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico to Juan Rodríguez and Victoria Flores. They then moved to the Morena section of the barrio of San...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Spanish language--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community...
Eugenia Rodríguez is the mother of José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez. She is the youngest of 13 children and was born in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico to Juan Rodríguez and Victoria Flores. They then moved to the Morena section of the barrio of San...
