Books: Fiction

The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano

Book — Historical fiction. By Sonia Manzano. 2012. 224 pages.
A coming-of-age story set in New York’s El Barrio in 1969 using actual news accounts of the Young Lords taking control of their destinies.

Time Periods: 1961
Themes: Civil Rights Movements, Latinx, Racism & Racial Identity
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revofevelynserrano9780545325059Puerto Rican teenager Evelyn Serrano experiences two revolutions: the Young Lords coming to her community in East Harlem and her own coming of age. The two intertwine, making this an engaging and educational story for middle and high school students. Manzano sets her historical fiction in 1969, when the Young Lords occupy a church, starting a free breakfast and other community programs.

This is an ideal introduction for students to the Young Lords, a key yet seldom taught story of Puerto Ricans in the modern Civil Rights Movement.

ISBN: 9780545325059 | Scholastic Press

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Related Resources
Why We Should Learn About the FBI’s War on the Civil Rights Movement (If We Knew Our History) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History
Articles

Why We Should Teach About the FBI’s War on the Civil Rights Movement

Article. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. If We Knew Our History series.
A 1971 break-in at FBI offices revealed a conspiracy—known as COINTELPRO—for the FBI to infiltrate, disrupt, and destroy a wide range of activist groups, especially civil rights organizations. Textbooks ignore this chapter in U.S. history, but it’s essential background to understand what’s happening today.

 

Books: Non-Fiction

The Young Lords: A Radical History

Book — Non-fiction. By Johanna Fernández. 2020. 480 pages.
Fernandez demonstrates how the Young Lords redefined the character of protest, the color of politics, and the cadence of popular urban culture in the age of great dreams.

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.

This Day in History

July 14, 1970: Young Lords Occupy Lincoln Hospital

The Young Lords occupied Lincoln Hospital’s major administrative building in response to deplorable treatment of people of color.