“The Young Lords in Lincoln Park” collection conveys the ongoing struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. In the 1960s the Young Lords brought out the question of self-determination for Puerto Rico on a mass, national level with the slogan, "Tengo Puerto Rico en mi corazon." This project is dedicated to documenting the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide. Recording, preserving, and making these memories accessible to teachers, researchers, and the community is the guiding aim of this project.

Highlights of this collection include more than 110 oral histories, historical photographs, papers, and clippings documenting the origins of the Young Lords Movement. Mr. Jiménez’s unpublished manuscripts from his campaign for alderman of Chicago’s 46^th ward, founding of the Lincoln Park Camp, and KO Club as well as photos, documents, clippings, and related ephemera donated by other individuals who have been interviewed as part of this project are also included. 

This digital collection includes more than 100 oral histories of former members, associates and family members. These interviews document the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, the Rainbow Coalition, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide.

View the Young Lords in Lincoln Park Oral History Digital Collection

Transcribing Young Lords Project

Special Collections & University Archives has been awarded funds through the Improving Access to Information grant program of the Library of Michigan for its "Transcribing Young Lords" project. The project, which will run from October 2024 through September 2025, involves creating transcripts of 100 of the interviews in the Young Lords oral history collection - nearly 150 hours of content. The new transcripts will improve the accessibility, usability, and discovery of these important historical resources - and make it even easier for GVSU students and faculty to use in their teaching and learning. 

The Improving Access to Information program is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal agency dedicated to advancing and supporting America's museums, libraries, and related organizations. 

The Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection documents the struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. Highlights of the personal papers of José Jiménez include a rich collection of historical photographs, papers, flyers and clippings documenting the origins of the Young Lords Movement. The collection also includes Mr. Jiménez’s records from his campaign for alderman of Chicago’s 46^th ward, founding of the Lincoln Park Camp, and KO Club as well as photos, documents, clippings, and related ephemera donated by other individuals who have been interviewed as part of this project.

José "Cha-Cha" Jiménez Young Lords in Lincoln Park Collection Finding Aid

Other Collections

• Rainbow Coalition Panel, Oakland California Museum (October 2016)
• Community Senior Oral Histories, Kent District Libraries
• Young Lords collection, DePaul University

Studs Terkel Radio Archives Recordings on the Young Lords

• Studs Terkel comments and presents Fiesta: a Chicago Happening ; part 1, August 23, 1969
• Studs Terkel comments and presents Fiesta: a Chicago Happening ; part 2, August 23, 1969
• Buckminster Fuller and Young Lords Party talk with Studs Terkel on WFMT,  May 13, 1970

"The Young Lords in Lincoln Park" collection grows out of decades of work to more fully document the history of Chicago's Puerto Rican community which gave birth to the Young Lords Organization and later, the Young Lords Party. Founded by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, the Young Lords became involved in one of the premier struggles for international human rights. Where thriving church congregations, social and political clubs, restaurants,  groceries, and family residences once flourished, successive waves of urban renewal and gentrification forcibly displaced most of those Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, working-class and impoverished families, and their children in the 1950s and 1960s. Today these same families and activists also risk losing their history.

This challenge is not just academic. The physical dismantling of neighborhoods has real-life, contemporary consequences that reverberate across generations. What does it mean to never be able to see where you came from? Or to understand one's past as born only of victimization rather than generations of challenge, political organizing, and self-determination? By collecting and preserving the memories of those who lived, worked, and thrived in and around the neighborhood of Lincoln Park this project aims to address these challenges. It also makes clear that the Lincoln Park story is not just about Chicago, but sheds critical light on the struggles of working-class and poor communities for justice, equal rights, and self-determination in communities across the United States and beyond.

Partners and Scope of Work

Although the “Young Lords in Lincoln Park” collection documents many decades of work, the effort gained formal support from Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in September 2011 as part of an undergraduate research project by José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, who was then an undergraduate student in the GVSU Liberal Studies Department. Mr. Jiménez graduated from GVSU in 2013.

Collecting this research and making this collection accessible has engaged a number of core partners at GVSU including Melanie Shell-Weiss, Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies, Susan Mendoza, Director of the former Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship, Nancy Richard, University Archivist, and Max Eckard, Metadata and Digital Curation Librarian. Student assistants Elizabeth Juárez, Esdras Rodríguez-Torres, and Carla Landhuis provided invaluable research, processing, translation, and transcription assistance. Consulting partners Zulema Moret, Associate Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies Coordinator, and Azfar Hussain, Associate Professor of Liberal Studies, contributed intellectual guidance and support to this effort as well. Administrative support from Marion Mathisen, Office Coordinator for the Liberal Studies Department, and Shelley Sickrey, Office Coordinator for the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship, has been invaluable.

To Participate or Share Your Memories

If you are interested in donating materials to the collection or schedule a research visit, please contact the Special Collections & University Archives at [email protected] or (616) 331-2749.

For more information about the Young Lords movement, or if you are interested in sharing your memories or would like to learn more about this documentation effort, contact [email protected]