A Radical History of the Young Lords

A Radical History of the Young Lords

The Young Lords were an explicitly socialist organization led predominantly by poor and working-class Puerto Rican youth. Explicitly modeled after the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords drew inspiration from both the domestic social movements of the 1960s and 1970s and national liberal movements of the Global South. The Young Lords confronted race and class inequality and questioned American foreign policy, linking local problems to international crises. The exposed U.S. mainland audiences to the country’s quiet imperial project in Puerto Rico. For this session, the MDC DSA Socialist Night School will be joined by Johanna Fernández.

Fernández is the author of the acclaimed book The Young Lords: A Radical History. She is an associate professor of history at Baruch College of the City University of New York and editor of Writing on the Wall: Selected Prison Writings of Mumia Abu-Jamal.