Humboldt Park, one of 77 designated community areas, is on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The Humboldt Park neighborhood is known for its dynamic social and ethnic demographic change over the years. The Puerto Rican community has identified strongly with the area since the 1970s. Humboldt Park is also the name of the Chicago Park District's historic 207-acre (0.8 km2) park or public garden adjacent to the community area.
The Young Lords was a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil rights and human rights organization. The group, most active in the late 1960s and 1970s, aimed to fight for neighborhood empowerment and self-determination for Puerto Rico, Latino, and colonized people. Tactics used by the Young Lords include mass education, canvassing, community programs, occupations, and direct confrontation. The Young Lords became targets of the United States FBI's COINTELPRO program.
West Town, northwest of the Loop on Chicago's West Side, is one of the city's officially designated community areas. Much of this area was historically part of Polish Downtown, along Western Avenue, which was then the city's western boundary. West Town was a collection of several distinct neighborhoods and the most populous community area until it was surpassed by Near West Side in the 1960s. The boundaries of the community area are the Chicago River to the east, the Union Pacific railroad tracks to the south, the former railroad tracks on Bloomingdale Avenue to the North, and an irregular western border to the west that includes the grand city park called Humboldt Park. Humboldt Park is also the name of the community area to West Town's west, Logan Square is to the north, Near North Side to the east, and Near West Side to the south. The collection of neighborhoods in West Town along with the neighborhoods of Bucktown and the eastern portion of Logan Square have been referred to by some media as the "Near Northwest Side".
Division Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois, located at 1200 North. Division Street begins in the Gold Coast neighborhood near Lake Shore Drive, passes through Polonia Triangle at Milwaukee Avenue into Wicker Park and continues to Chicago's city limits and into the city's western suburbs. Once known as "Polish Broadway" during the heyday of Polish Downtown, Division Street was the favorite street of author Nelson Algren. A fountain dedicated in his name was installed in what had been the area that figured as the inspiration for much of his work.
The first Puerto Ricans known to have migrated to New York City did so in the mid-1800s when Spain ruled Puerto Rico. Another wave of Puerto Ricans migrated to New York City after the Spanish–American War in 1898. Though no longer subjects of Spain, they were now citizens of an American possession and needed passports to travel to the contiguous United States.
The Division Street riots were episodes of rioting and civil unrest in Chicago which started on June 12 and continued through June 14, 1966. These riots are remembered as a turning point in Puerto Rican civic involvement in Chicago. This was the first riot in the United States attributed to Puerto Ricans.
Stateside Puerto Ricans, also ambiguously known as Puerto Rican Americans, or Puerto Ricans in the United States, are Puerto Ricans who are in the United States proper of the 50 states and the District of Columbia who were born in or trace any family ancestry to the unincorporated US territory of Puerto Rico.
Roberto Clemente Community Academy is a public four-year high school located in the West Town community area of Chicago, Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Public Schools, the school is named for Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Enrique Clemente (1934–1972).
Paseo Boricua is a section of Division Street in the Humboldt Park community of the West Side of Chicago, Illinois.
Humboldt Park is an 207-acre (84 ha) urban park located at 1400 North Sacramento Avenue in West Town, on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. To its west is the neighborhood named after it, also called Humboldt Park. It opened in 1877, and is one of the largest parks on the West Side. The park's designers include William Le Baron Jenney, and Jens Jensen.
A piragua[piˈɾa.ɣwa] is a Puerto Rican shaved ice dessert, shaped like a cone, consisting of shaved ice and covered with fruit-flavored syrup. Piraguas are sold by vendors, known as piragüeros, from small, traditionally brightly colored pushcarts offering a variety of flavors. Besides Puerto Rico, piraguas can be found in areas of the United States with large Puerto Rican communities, such as New York and Central Florida.
José Jiménez, nicknamed Cha Cha, was a Puerto Rican-American political activist and the founder of the Young Lords, a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil and human rights organization. Started on September 23, 1968, it was most active in the late 1960s and 1970s.
The Spanish Cobras is a primarily Latino street gang, present in multiple states throughout the Midwestern United States, with a strong presence on the north and west sides of Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School (PACHS) is an alternative high school located in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the Paseo Boricua in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is named for Puerto Rican nationalist Pedro Albizu Campos, and was founded in 1972 as La Escuelita Puertorriqueña, originally in the basement of a Chicago church. The school is NALSAS accredited, a founding member of the Alternative Schools Network, and a campus of the Youth Connection Charter School in Chicago. PACHS celebrated its 50th anniversary in October 2022.
Philadelphia has the second largest Puerto Rican community outside of Puerto Rico after New York City. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, an estimated 121,643 Puerto Ricans were living in Philadelphia, up from 91,527 in 2000. Recent 2017 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau put the number of Puerto Ricans living in Philadelphia at 134,934. In 2019, estimates put the number of Puerto Ricans at 146,153. Many Puerto Ricans in the Philadelphia area have engaged in circular migration in which they spend periods of time living in Philadelphia and periods of time living in Puerto Rico.
The West Side is one of the three major sections of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The others are the North Side and South Side. The West Side contains communities that are of historical and cultural importance to the history and development of Chicago. On the flag of Chicago, the West Side is represented by the central white stripe.
Gentrification, the process of altering the demographic and socioeconomic composition of a neighborhood usually by decreasing the percentage of low-income minority residents and increasing the percentage higher-income residents, has been an issue between the residents of minority neighborhoods in Chicago who believe the influx of new residents destabilizes their communities, and the gentrifiers who see it as a process that economically improves a neighborhood. Researchers have debated the significance of its effects on the neighborhoods and whether or not it leads to the displacement of residents.
The Humboldt Park riot was the second major conflict between Puerto Ricans in Chicago and the Chicago Police Department. The riot began on June 4, 1977, and lasted a day and a half. Following the shooting deaths of two Puerto Rican men, locals battled Chicago police officers in Humboldt Park and in the streets surrounding. The riot led the community to hold the Division Street Puerto Rican Day Parade, which started in 1978.
UrbanTheater Company (UTC) was founded in the Chicago neighborhood of Humboldt Park in 2005. The Humboldt Park and Puerto Rican communities are at the core of all of UrbanTheater Company's work, as evidenced by a variety of outreach measures to engage with the surrounding neighborhood. Their mission statement reads: "UTC is committed to the creation and exploration of urban-inspired works that convey, illuminate and empathize with the human experience".
The Chicago neighborhood of Humboldt Park is the founding grounds for several major gangs, including the Latin Kings, Simon City Royals, and Maniac Latin Disciples, among a number of other gangs with active chapters in the area as of 2023. With its roots dating back to the 1950s, the continuous presence and activity of gangs around the neighborhood has caused it to be a frequent subject of law enforcement, media, and residents over the years.
Puerto Ricoportal 
