Dimas Rodríguez Flores video interview and biography
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 activists--Illinois--Chicago
Puerto Rico--Autonomy and independence movements
Puerto Ricans--Social life and customs
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 siblings, including their youngest sister, Eugenia Rodríguez Flores. Although Mr. Rodríguez has always lived in Puerto Rico, like many Puerto Ricans his life is connected to cities across the United States mainland through family; many of his children live in the United States. A veteran of World War II, Mr. Rodríguez is now retired. He enjoys his parakeets, cooking his vegetables, and eating the fruits of his land.
Flores, Dimas
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Carlos Flores video interview and transcript
Chicago (Ill.)--Politics and government--1951-
Arts, Puerto Rican--Illinois--Chicago
Urban renewal--Illinois--Chicago
Race relations
Puerto Ricans--Illinois--Chicago--Social conditions
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 in Lincoln Park which included his share of minor street battles as a teen member of the Continentals Social Club. Mr. Flores also fought for Puerto Ricans as a full fledged member of the Young Lords. Mr. Flores served on the Chicago Mayor’s Advisory Council on Latino Affairs, under Harold Washington. This council was first set up in 1983 by the Young Lords and four other Latino representative organizations city-wide soon after Harold Washington was elected the first African American mayor in Chicago history.
Flores, Carlos
Diego Figuearoa, Sr. video interview and biography
Mexican Americans--Personal narratives
Mexican Americans--Illinois--Chicago--Social conditions
Social conflict
Cultural identity
Black Panther Party. Illinois Chapter
Oral history of Diego Figuearoa, Sr., interviewed by Jose 'Cha-Cha' Jimenez, on 8/25/2012 about the Young Lords in Lincoln Park.
Figueroa, Sr, Diego
Diego Figuearoa, Jr. video interview and transcript
Oral history of Diego Figuearoa, Jr., interviewed by Jose 'Cha-Cha' Jimenez, on 8/25/2012 about the Young Lords in Lincoln Park.
Figueroa, Jr, Diego
Ana Encarnación video interview and biography
Puerto Ricans--Illinois--Chicago--Social life and customs
Medical care--Illinois--Chicago
Ana Encarnación is from the San Juan metropolitan area of Puerto Rico and describes growing up there in the late 1930s and 1940s. She arrived in Chicago in the 1950s, settling in Old Town, along the border dividing Old Town from neighboring Lincoln Park. She lived on the south side of North Avenue, at the corner of Sedgewick. When the Young Lords decided in 1968 to start to defend the Puerto Ricans and the poor from being displaced, it was her dream come true to join the Young Lords Movement. She saw it as a way to help her people. Ms. Encarnación was in nursing and so she began to work in the Young Lords’ Emeterio Betances Free Health Clinic. Ms. Encarnación describes how the volunteer staff, including herself, not only provided many long hours of free services to the Puerto Ricans and poor of Lincoln Park but when money was low, they also donated from their own personal savings to keep the clinic afloat.
Encarnación, Ana
William E. Dunbar video interview and transcript
African Americans--Personal narratives
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 era of their origins. Mr. Dunbar is also a founding member of the Illinois BPP History Project, which is currently conducting oral histories to document the Chicago Chapter, so that the work of their members is not forgotten. Their project also wants the public to remember the impact that BPP Chairman Fred Hampton not only had on the African American community but on other communities of color and the poor. Mr. Dunbar is also a businessman. Today he owns a copy center.Chicago BPP Chairman Fred Hampton and BPP member Mark Clark were murdered in a predawn raid on December 4, 1969. Prior to his death, Mr. Hampton started a Rainbow Coalition, which was nurtured by Bobby Lee. The original members included the Young Patriots, a group of Hillbillies or southern whites from the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago of whom many had migrated from Appalachia and other southern areas, and the Young Lords from Lincoln Park. The Young Lords first met Fred Hampton at John Boelter’s and Ralph Rivera’s home and joined the Rainbow Coalition directly through Fred Hampton. Bobby Lee who was the BPP Field Marshall then began working more directly with José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez and the Young Lords in Lincoln Park.
Dunbar, William
Aaron Dixon video interview and transcript
Oral history of Aaron Dixon, interviewed by Jose 'Cha-Cha' Jimenez, on 3/14/2013 about the Young Lords in Lincoln Park. This interview is incomplete. At approximately 39 minutes, the interview with Dixon cuts to another interview with Linda Turner and does not return to Dixon.
Dixon, Aaron
Patricia Devine-Reed video interview and transcript
Personal narratives
Poverty--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 Americans were being displaced from their homes and priced out of the renewing neighborhood. Ms. Devine-Reed also helped to organize the broad-based Lincoln Park Poor People’s Coalition to try to save the poor from being forced out of their homes in Lincoln Park.
Devine-Reed, Patricia
Primitivo Cruz video interview and transcript
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 the official founding of the Young Lords on September 23, 1968. Most of his work is political by nature, focusing on the Puerto Rican experience, the right to Puerto Rican self-determination, as well as the rights of new immigrants.
Cruz, Primitivo
Eldelmira Cruz video interview and biography
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 grew into a human rights movement. Ms. Cruz recalls the fight in the courts for the Free Community Day Care Center, the Free Breakfast for Children Program, and the Ramón Emeterio Betances Free Health Care Clinic. She and her children also used these resources. Ms. Cruz describes a culture shock as she says she grew up all her life in the countryside in Puerto Rico. Ms. Cruz participated and volunteered in the Young Lords People’s Church.
Cruz, Eldelmira
Rafael Cancel-Miranda video interview and biography
Oral history of Rafael Cancel-Miranda, interviewed by Jose 'Cha-Cha' Jimenez, on 11/19/2013 about the Young Lords in Lincoln Park.
Cancel-Miranda, Rafael
Alfredo Calixto video interview and transcript
Youth--Illinois--Chicago
Alfredo “Freddy” Calixto and his family were among the first Puerto Rican families to move to Chicago in the early 1950s. Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Mr. Calixto lived through the displacement of Puerto Rican families from La Clark to the Lincoln Park Neighborhood where he grew up. Mr. Calixto describes struggling with discrimination in Lincoln Park and how these early experiences inspired him to commit himself to advocating for Latino youth.
Calixto, Alfredo
Elaine Brown video interview and transcript
Oral history of Elaine Brown, interviewed by Jose 'Cha-Cha' Jimenez, on 5/10/2013 about the Young Lords in Lincoln Park.
Brown, Elaine
Billy “Che” Brooks video interview and transcript
Billy “Che” Brooks is Deputy Minister of Education of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) and Director of YouthLAB@1521 through the Better Boys Foundation. In 1969, Mr. Brooks was very close to Chairman Fred Hampton who was the main spokesman of the Black Panther Party in Illinois. As one of the primary leaders of the BPP, Mr. Brooks was under constant, daily harassment by the Chicago Red Squad and Gang Intelligence Unit. He also worked closely with the Young Lords through the Rainbow Coalition.
Brooks, Billy
John Boelter video interview and transcript
John Boelter was one of the Chicago Teachers Union members on strike in September 1968 at Waller High School, known today by its new name, Lincoln Park High. Today he is a Professor of Biology at Chicago State University. In 1968, a prominent Young Lord, Ralph “Spaghetti” Rivera returned from Puerto Rico and subleased a room from Dr. Boelter. Mr. Rivera, who grew up in Lakeview, wanted to be closer to the Young Lords who were then hanging out in front of the Armitage Avenue United Methodist Church which later to become the People’s Church, on the corner of Dayton Street and Armitage Avenue. In Puerto Rico, Mr. Rivera had been hanging out with M.P.I. (Movimiento Pro Independencia) and F.U.P.I. (Federacion Universitaria Pro Independencia) their student auxiliary, at University of Puerto Rico campus in Rio Piedras. He was going through a political transformation. Upon arriving in Chicago, Mr. Rivera soon discovered that his Young Lords colleagues were also going through a transformation. They had been reorganized once again by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez and the members were struggling with each other on whether to remain apolitical as just a gang or to become a human rights movement. Mr. Rivera joined in fully to help Mr. Jiménez, and they together designed the original Young Lords button that read, “Tengo Puerto Rico En Mi Corazón ( I have Puerto Rico in my heart) with a green map of Puerto Rico in the center, and a brown arm and fist holding a rifle. The initials YLO, which stood for “Young Lords Organization,” was at the bottom. They had added organization to their name, to make it clear that they were now involved in a class struggle, fighting for Latinos, the poor, and for Puerto Rican self-determination. Mr. Rivera became one of the Young Lords’ first P.E. (political education) class teachers, as these sessions were being held in the different homes of members including. LP Records of speeches by Malcom X, Fidel Castro, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, Mao Tse Tung’s Little Red Book, the National Question, Panther films, and Saul Alinsky strategies were being used as tools for study. It was in Mr. Boelter’s and Mr. Rivera’s house where Chicago Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and the Panthers first arrived on Dayton and Armitage. They were led from the corner to the house to meet Dr. Boelter, Mr. Rivera, Mr. Jiménez, and the Young Lords. The Black Panthers broke bread and drank Wild Irish Rose (Fred Hampton did not drink or use drugs) on ice, smoked some weed, and joked a little, cementing a relationship that has lasted to this day. On a different day within a few weeks at the same location, it was informally agreed to join together with the Young Patriots. BPP Field Marshall Bob Lee was working with them. The three groups, who were already major players within their own communities, became the original members of the alliance known as the Rainbow Coalition. This was followed by several press conferences announcing the Rainbow Coalition, including one where Congressman Bobby Rush, appears in a photo with the Young Lords, Young Patriots and other Black Panthers but where Mr. Jiménez and Mr. Hampton were unable to be present. The Rainbow Coalition was strongly woven together to the credit of the organizations that took part in it. They all were committed and followed the same vanguard ideology of the BPP. But it is significant to note that the Rainbow Coalition was more symbolic than a structured organization. It was the mass way for all the grassroots organizations to find common ground and to join together for support of each other’s struggles, and it soon spread to other movements and groups like Rising Up Angry, the Intercommunal Survival Committees, Red Guard, Brown Berets, S.D.S. and many other groups in many cities. After the Young Lords went underground and the Puerto Rican and low income residents of Lincoln Park were completely removed by Mayor Richard J. Daley and his patronage machine, Dr. Boelter moved south to Morgan Park. Dr. Boelter also joined the Progressive Labor Party. The Progressive Labor Party had left the Communist Party years before, because their belief was that “they want to skip the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and go right into utopia.” They are against racism and respect workers, but do not want to cling on to leaders or unions, preferring to organize the masses. They have been accused of “catering more to the petty bourgeoisie and the aristocracy of labor.” Then they rejected the Black Panthers and Young Lords use of Nationalism as an important step. They also had become part of S.D.S. and by 1969 were their largest faction. Dr. Boelter today is still a member. These political discussions on all sides were part of the Lincoln Park era in the late 60s and 70s.
Boelter, John
Sijisfredo Avilés video interview and transcript
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Draft resisters--United States
Sijisfredo Avilés is the first Puerto Rican in Chicago to publicly oppose the Vietnam War draft during the middle 1960s. He quietly served three years in jail for refusing induction in 1968. Born in Puerto Rico, Mr. Avilés’ family moved to Chicago in the early 1950s, settling around Chicago Avenue and Noble Avenue, just west of Ogden Avenue and downtown. Mr. Avilés has been a lifelong advocate for the poor, Latino self-determination, and human rights and worked closely with the Young Lords.
Avilés, Sijisfredo
Vicente “Panama” Alba video interview and transcript, interview 2
Panamanians--Personal narratives
Vicente “Panama” Alba is a Young Lord who was born in Panama, immigrated to New York City in 1961, and now lives in Puerto Rico. He worked many years as an organizer with Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) of the AFL/CIO, advocating for immigrant and undocumented workers in the solid waste and recycling industry. During the Attica Rebellion, September 9, 1971, he supported the inmates in their negotiations. Mr. Alba has been involved in two takeovers of the Statue of Liberty, first supporting the occupation and the planting of the Puerto Rican flag on the Statue as part of a campaign to free the Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners and the second in support of the struggle of the people of Vieques. A fervent admirer of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Mr. Alba continues to advocate for self-determination for Puerto Rico and has been involved with the Nationalists and other parties, including several community organizing campaigns to free political prisoners, including Oscar López.
Alba, Vicente
Vicente “Panama” Alba video interview and transcript, interview 1
Vicente “Panama” Alba is a Young Lord who was born in Panama, immigrated to New York City in 1961, and now lives in Puerto Rico. He worked many years as an organizer with Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) of the AFL/CIO, advocating for immigrant and undocumented workers in the solid waste and recycling industry. During the Attica Rebellion, September 9, 1971, he supported the inmates in their negotiations. Mr. Alba has been involved in two takeovers of the Statue of Liberty, first supporting the occupation and the planting of the Puerto Rican flag on the Statue as part of a campaign to free the Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners and the second in support of the struggle of the people of Vieques. A fervent admirer of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Mr. Alba continues to advocate for self- determination for Puerto Rico and has been involved with the Nationalists and other parties, including several community organizing campaigns to free political prisoners, including Oscar López.
Howard Alan video interview and transcript
Interview of Howard Alan on August 22, 2012 by José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez. In the video, a man in glasses sits in front of a bookshelf and speaks to the interviewer who is off camera. Howard Alan is an architect who specializes in organic architecture, passive and active solar and alternative energy conservation. He grew up in Chicago and first learned architecture in high school before going on to attend the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California. In 1969, Mr. Alan invited and brought the world renowned architect, Buckminster Fuller, to the People’s Church to meet with Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez and the Young Lords. The Young Lords and the Poor People’s Coalition of Lincoln Park (which Mr. Jiménez was also their president) hired Mr. Alan to draw up plans for a multi-unit, affordable housing complex, as a concrete cooperative alternative to Daley’s Master Plan; a plan which was displacing Latinos and the poor from across Chicago’s near-downtown and lakefront neighborhoods.
Alan, Howard
Audio Transcription Center (transcriber)
Cathy Adorno-Centeno video interview and transcript
Interview of Cathy Adorno-Centeno on August 24, 2012 by José "Cha-Cha" Jiménez and Melanie Shell-Weiss (identified in the transcript as "F1"). In the video, a Latina woman sits facing the camera and speaks to the interviewer who is off camera. 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 growing up surrounded by Young Lords and in a home that was a central gathering for pot luck family dinners for members of the organization and their supporters. Following the brutal death of her Young Lord father Jose “Pancho” Lind, Ms. Adorno-Centeno and her brothers and mother went underground; staying at a rented farm near Tomah, Wisconsin that would become the Young Lords’ Training Camp. Her most vivid childhood memories are of the warmth and support she enjoyed as a member of the Young Lords community. It included block parties, farmworker pickets, demonstrations and social events held near or in the Young Lords headquarters on Wilton and Grace streets. She also spent time at Rico’s Club (which her mother owned) and enjoyed company for the Sunday pasta dinners in her home.
Adorno-Centeno, Cathy
Luis Acosta video interview and transcript
Oral history of Luis Acosta, interviewed by Jose “Cha-Cha” Jimenez on October 25, 2012 about the Young Lords in Lincoln Park. In the video, a Latino man in a dark sweater sits in front of a bookshelf facing the camera, while speaking to the interviewer who is off camera.
Acosta, Luis
Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65)