Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Dylcia Pagán was born to Puerto Rican parents in 1946 at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, New York City and raised in East Harlem. She became a child star, performing every week on NBC’s “Children’s Hour.” After losing her parents at the age...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
María Romero first joined the Young Lords on Wilton and Grace Streets. She was recruited by then Angie
Lind-Rizzo (later Angie Adorno) and the other Young Lord women members. It was 1973 and the Young
Lords were emerging from two long years of...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Rebecca “Buffy” Vance was friends with “Stony,” who was a white southerner and one of the main
Young Lords from the Wieland branch of the group before they became human rights activists for
Latinos and the poor. Stony was about 17-years-old...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Laura Garcia was raised in an immigrant farmworker family. She was a member of MECha, the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, in the struggle to build the United Farmworkers Union, and joined the Teatro de las Chicanas, a theatre troupe...
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Cathy Adorno-Centeno is the daughter of Angie Navedo-Rizzo, a Young Lord who also founded “Mothers and Others,” a sub-group within the Young Lords that organized around women’s rights issues. Born in Chicago, Ms. Adorno-Centeno describes...
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.); African Americans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Hampton, Fred, 1948-1969;...
Billy Dunbar is a member of the Chicago Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense
(BPP). He is from the south side of Chicago. He keeps up with all the political events related to the BPP
and the Rainbow Coalition, including the...
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.); 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.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Spanish language--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community...
Pedro Mateo is from Salinas, Puerto Rico and now lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He first came to Grand Rapids in the 1950s, but quickly moved to Indiana Harbor to work in the steel mills alongside many other Puerto Rican immigrants of that era. ...
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...
Juan Rodríguez was a member and leader of the Jovenes Nobles social club in San Salvador, Puerto Rico, where he was born and raised. Mr. Rodríguez later followed other family members to Aurora, Illinois where he worked for many years at the...
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.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Chicago (Ill.)--Politics and...
Modesto Rivera is a Young Lord raised in the La Clark neighborhood, Lincoln Park, and with the Hillbillies of Chicago’s uptown. Mr. Rivera was a strong community organizer and door-to-door precinct worker. He has worked in many political...
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.); African Americans--Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Hampton, Fred, 1948-1969;...
Iberia Hampton is the mother of murdered Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, as well as Dee and Bill Hampton. Throughout her life she has been active within her church and the community. Along with Bill Hampton and the board, Mrs....
Young Lords (Organization); Puerto Ricans--United States; Civil Rights--United States--History; Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.); Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives; Personal narratives; Social justice; Community activists--Illinois--Chicago; Urban...
Hilda Frontany is a long-time community activist whose family first lived in the Water Hotel in Chicago’s La Clark neighborhood when they arrived in Chicago from Puerto Rico. In the late 1960s and 1970s she devoted her work to addressing the...
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...
