Library exhibit celebrates history of the Young Lords

A new exhibit at Grand Valley honors the 50th anniversary of the Young Lords organization — a street gang that transformed into a political human rights movement in 1968 when their founder José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez came to the realization that the group was capable of bringing about positive social change.

“Puerto Rico in My Heart: 50 Years of Young Lords” will be on display in the Mary Idema Pew Library’s Exhibition Space through November 14.

Leigh Rupinski, Special Collections and University Archives archivist for public services and community engagement, said that Jiménez transformed the group into an activist organization inspired by the Black Panthers, with the goal of improving the lives of Puerto Ricans and other minority groups in Chicago.

“They did a lot of social reform at the community level,” Rupinski said. “What they were really focused on was combating urban renewal, the destruction of affordable housing options for immigrant and minority families, and the fact that a lot of them couldn't afford health care and didn't have a place to safely leave their children to go to work.”

The Young Lords have a special connection to the Grand Valley; Jiménez attended the university later in life and graduated in 2013. Rupinski said Jiménez donated many of his research materials and oral histories that he conducted while he was at Grand Valley.

The exhibit contains an extensive history of the Young Lords’ activism in Chicago, including panels that walk through the story of the organization, physical pieces like promotional buttons and a brick from a church the group once occupied, and a digital collection of oral history interviews with people associated with the Young Lords.

Jiménez and University Libraries staff hope to illustrate the power of community activism through the exhibit while highlighting how the issues the Young Lords spoke about are still relevant today.

“One of José's biggest hopes was that the exhibit and the collection inspired people to see how you can make community level impact,” Rupinski said. 

--Story written by Madison Barnes, student writer