Books: Non-Fiction

We Took the Streets: Fighting for Latino Rights with the Young Lords

Book — Non-fiction. By Miguel Melendez. 2003. 260 pages.
Legacy of the Young Lords in the Puerto Rican struggle for equality and independence.

Time Periods: 20th Century, 1961
Themes: Civil Rights Movements, Latinx, Organizing

wetooktothestreetsIn this memoir, Melendez describes with the unsparing eye of an insider the idealism, anger, and vitality of the Lords as they rose to become the most respected and powerful voice of Puerto Rican empowerment in the country. He also traces the internal ideological disputes that led the group, but not the mission, to fracture in 1972.

Written with passion and compelling detail, We Took the Streets tells the story of how one group took on the establishment — and won. [Publisher’s description.]

ISBN: 9780813535593 | Rutgers University Press

 

From Garbage Offensives to Occupying Churches, Actions of the Young Lords Continue to Inspire
Democracy Now! | Sept. 23, 2015

A look back at the Young Lords, a radical group founded by Puerto Ricans modeled on the Black Panther Party.