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; Veterans--Personal narratives;...
Alfredo Matias is the son of Doña Carmen García and a Young Lord going back to the mid-1960s. Mr. Matias joined the Young Lords during the Month of Soul Dances at St. Michael’s Church Gymnasium in Lincoln Park. Mr. Matias lived in Lincoln Park...
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.); 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.); 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...
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...
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...
Eldelmira Cruz is from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. She migrated to the Chicago Lincoln Park neighborhood in 1969 and lived right by the People’s Church. Her memories of her early days in Chicago include the work the Young Lords were doing as 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...
David Mojica is a very important, unsung hero in the history of Puerto Ricans in Chicago. He has volunteered his services in Humboldt Park. Mr. Mojica has been the head of the Cocineros union for many years, helping to provide jobs and distributing...
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...
Dimas Rodríguez Flores grew up since the 1930s in Barrio San Salvador of Caguas, Puerto Rico and continues to live there in the Lao Frío side of the barrio. He is a twin brother with Encarnación Rodríguez Flores. They have another eleven...
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...
Carlos Flores is a cultural activist who lived at La Salle and Superior in the La Clark barrio, growing up on Armitage Avenue. He takes pride in relating that his family was “the last of the Puerto Ricans to leave Lincoln Park” and recalls life...
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; Arts, Puerto...
David Hernández was born in Cidra, Puerto Rico and arrived in Chicago in 1955. He has volunteered with the Young Lords in many activities and events. But his primary community work has been with La Gente, an organization he founded that worked...
