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Black Panthers

Brown Berets

Chicano Movement

The 1960s in America

Young Lords

by Vanessa Tait

A Puerto Rican revolutionary organization formed to fight racial, cultural, and language discrimination and economic exploitation. It established chapters in several U.S. cities.

Origins and History

The first Young Lords Organization (YLO) was formed in Chicago and worked with local Black Panthers and a white revolutionary group in a so-called “Rainbow Coalition.” A group of young Puerto Ricans in New York City read an article about the Chicago YLO in the June 7, 1969, issue of the Black Panther newspaper, and a month later obtained permission to start their own chapter. In addition to Puerto Ricans, the membership included Dominicans, African Americans, Cubans, and Latinos. The group’s admiration for the Black Panther Party can be seen in its thirteen-point political program, paramilitary style, and the brown berets that members wore. In May, 1970, the East Coast YLO became the Young Lords Party and published a bilingual newspaper, Palante (literally “forward in struggle”). Chapters formed in Hoboken, Newark, and Jersey City, New Jersey; Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Activities

New York City’s chapter was the most active, with early actions focused on improving living conditions in the barrio. When a church refused to give them space to run a free breakfast program, the Young Lords occupied it for eleven days. When neighborhood cleanups were met with hostility from the sanitation department, the Young Lords turned them into “garbage protests” in which the streets of East Harlem were blockaded with trash until the city picked it up. Later, the Young Lords used direct action to improve community health care by hijacking a medical truck to service the community, starting drug treatment programs, and occupying a hospital in the South Bronx to demand better services. Support of Puerto Rican independence and prison struggles were other major areas of activity.

Impact

The Young Lords gave voice to an increasing militancy in the Latino community. Internal debates about sexism and homophobia resulted in advances for women and gays within the organization and also served to educate the community about the dangers of “machismo.” In part by embracing an Afro-Indio-Latino multiculturalism, the Young Lords facilitated connections between activists of differing racial and cultural backgrounds.

Subsequent Events

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program), which targeted Puerto Rican independence activists, many of whom were also active in the Young Lords, took a toll on the organization. In January, 1971, the group split over whether to open chapters in Puerto Rico or continue working only in U.S. communities. Two island chapters were started but did not survive long. In July, 1972, the Young Lords Party changed its name to the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization and shifted to labor organizing. By 1976, it had dissolved.

Additional Information

The Young Lords Party published its own account, Palante (1971), which includes essays by members as well as an extensive photographic essay by Michael Abramson. Palante, Siempre Palante (1996), a video by Iris Morales, is a critical history of the organization and its demise.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Tait, Vanessa. "Young Lords." The 1960s in America, edited by Carl Singleton, Salem Press, 1999. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1960_4030055022.
APA 7th
Tait, V. (1999). Young Lords. In C. Singleton (Ed.), The 1960s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Tait, Vanessa. "Young Lords." Edited by Carl Singleton. The 1960s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 1999. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.