Event Title
The Young Lords in Lincoln Park
Presentation Type
Oral and/or Visual Presentation
Presenter Major(s)
Liberal Studies
Mentor Information
Melanie Shell-Weiss
Department
Liberal Studies
Location
Kirkhof Center 2201
Start Date
10-4-2013 12:00 AM
End Date
10-4-2013 12:00 AM
Keywords
Human Rights, Social Class, U.S. Diversity
Abstract
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, urban renewal programs forcibly displaced thousands of families from their homes. Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood was no exception. Where thriving church congregations, social and political clubs, and family residences once flourished, successive waves of urban renewal and gentrification forcibly displaced most of the Puerto Ricans, Mexicanos, other Latinos, working-class and impoverished families, and their children who had made this place their home. Founded by Mr. Jose "Cha-Cha" Jimenez in 1968, the Young Lords Organization became one of the premier organizations advocating for international human rights. Much of the work of these organizations remains untold and uncollected. Focusing on the "Young Lords in Lincoln Park" project, this paper explores the hidden stories and contested truths surrounding the politics of solidarity and self-determination by Latino, African-American, and poor communities in Chicago in the 1960s-1980s and beyond.
The Young Lords in Lincoln Park
Kirkhof Center 2201
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, urban renewal programs forcibly displaced thousands of families from their homes. Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood was no exception. Where thriving church congregations, social and political clubs, and family residences once flourished, successive waves of urban renewal and gentrification forcibly displaced most of the Puerto Ricans, Mexicanos, other Latinos, working-class and impoverished families, and their children who had made this place their home. Founded by Mr. Jose "Cha-Cha" Jimenez in 1968, the Young Lords Organization became one of the premier organizations advocating for international human rights. Much of the work of these organizations remains untold and uncollected. Focusing on the "Young Lords in Lincoln Park" project, this paper explores the hidden stories and contested truths surrounding the politics of solidarity and self-determination by Latino, African-American, and poor communities in Chicago in the 1960s-1980s and beyond.