The Young Lords is a civil and human rights organization transformed by the leadership of Jose Cha Cha Jimenez from a Chicago turf gang on September 23, 1968, 100 years after the Grito de Lares. The group's mission is to fight for neighborhood empowerment and self-determination of Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and colonized people. Tactics used by the Young Lords include mass education, canvassing, community programs, occupations, and direct confrontation. The Young Lords were targets of the U.S. Government's COINTELPRO program.
Parks in Chicago include open spaces and facilities, developed and managed by the Chicago Park District. The City of Chicago devotes 8.5% of its total land acreage to parkland, which ranked it 13th among high-density population cities in the United States in 2012. Since the 1830s, the official motto of Chicago has been Urbs in horto, Latin for "City in a garden" for its commitment to parkland. In addition to serving residents, a number of these parks also double as tourist destinations, most notably Lincoln Park, Chicago's largest park, visited by over 20 million people each year, is one of the most visited parks in the United States. Notable architects, artists and landscape architects have contributed to the 570 parks, including Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jens Jensen, Dwight Perkins, Frank Gehry, and Lorado Taft.
West Town, located in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois, northwest of the Loop, on Chicago's West Side is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Much of this area was historically part of the city's Polish Downtown, and its name may refer to Western Avenue, which was the city's western boundary at the time of West Town's settlement, but more likely was a convenient abstraction by the creators of Chicago's community areas. Then, as now, West Town was a collection of several distinct neighborhoods. It was the most populous of the community areas from their creation 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 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. Currently, as well as historically, 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 media as the Near Northwest Side.
Ariel Reboyras is alderman of the 30th ward of the City of Chicago; he was first elected in 2003. He was previously a deputy commissioner in the general service department.
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 Division Street riots were episodes of rioting and civil unrest, 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.
A Stateside Puerto Rican, also ambiguously Puerto Rican American, or Puerto Ricans in the United States is a term for residents in the continental United States and Hawaii who were born in or trace family ancestry to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
Roberto Clemente Community Academy is a public 4–year high school located in the West Town community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Clemente is operated by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district. The school is named for Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Enrique Clemente (1934–1972).
Carl Sandburg Village is a Chicago urban renewal project of the 1960s in the Near North Side community area of Chicago. It was named in honor of Carl Sandburg. Financed by the city, it is between Clark and LaSalle Streets between Division Street and North Avenue. Solomon Cordwell Buenz was the architect.
Paseo Boricua is a section of Division Street in the Humboldt Park community of the West Side of Chicago, Illinois.
Humboldt Park is a 207-acre (84 ha) park located at 1400 North Sacramento Avenue on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois.
Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) is a public 4–year college preparatory visual and performing arts high school located in the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Operated by the Chicago Public Schools district, The school opened for the 2009–10 school year.
José (Cha-Cha) Jiménez is the founder of the Young Lords as a national human rights movement. It was founded in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago on September 23, 1968. Cha-Cha was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, to Jíbaro parents, Eugenia Rodríguez Flores of San Lorenzo and Antonio Jiménez Rodríguez of the barrio of San Salvador in Caguas, on August 8, 1948.
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School (PACHS) is an alternative high school located in the West Town neighborhood 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 40th anniversary in January 2013.
The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture is a museum in Chicago dedicated to interpreting the arts and culture of the Puerto Rican people and of the Puerto Ricans in Chicago. Founded in 2001, it is housed in the historic landmark Humboldt Park stables and receptory, near the Paseo Boricua. It hosts visual arts exhibitions, community education, and festivals. Its exhibitions have featured the artwork of Osvaldo Budet, Elizam Escobar, Antonio Martorell, Ramon Frade Leon, and Lizette Cruz, in addition to local Chicago or Puerto Rican artists. The Institute also sponsors music events including an annual Navi-Jazz performance, described as a "fusion of Puerto Rican and African American musical elements."
The West Side is one of the three major sections of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, along with the North Side and the South Side. The West Side consists of communities that are of historical, cultural, and ideological importance to the history and development of Chicago. On the flag of Chicago, the West Side is represented by the central white stripe.
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 with the mission to highlight and uplift the stories of marginalized identities in the theater world. UTC is particularly dedicated to featuring Puerto Rican stories, playwrights, actors, and theater makers in their processes, using theater to bring the joys and struggles of the Latinx-American identity onto a stage. 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".
