The Bronx Museum of the Arts Highlights Young Lords in New Exhibit

by Gabrielle McGovern | 07/08/2015 | 5:46pm

Articles from the Young Lords' newspaper

The Bronx Museum of the Arts has organized a multi-venue exhibition on the Young Lords organization. It was a Puerto Rican social activist group founded in the 1960's. The group's influence spread from Chicago to New York City in 1969. 
 
The exhibit, !Presente! The Young Lords in New York, features more than fifty works of art outlining the Young Lords' history and its cultural impact on New York City. That's according to exhibit curator Johanna Fernandez.
 
She says the Young Lords were most active in low-income neighborhoods like East Harlem and the South Bronx, which had high Puerto Rican populations. Fernandez says the group tackled economic inequality and other social issues affecting the Puerto Rican community.
 
"Puerto Ricans were perceived to be mild-mannered, docile, or prone to violence. These were the stereotypes," Fernandez says. "And here you have emerging a very confident cohort of Puerto Ricans who challenged perceptions."
 
The exhibition will also be held at two other museums: El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem and Loisiada Inc. in the Lower East Side. The dates for the exhibit are as follows:
 
Bronx Museum of the  Arts: July 2-October 15, 2015
El Museo del Bario: July 22-October 17, 2015
Loisiada Inc.: July 30-October 10, 2015 

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