Blacks and Browns in Harlem Celebrate the Legacy of the Puerto Rican Ally of the Black Panther Party

 Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture on Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, NYC

Recently, I attended a celebration of the Puerto Rican contribution to the black and brown liberation struggles of the 1960s, which was hosted by the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture. The center was named after Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a black Puerto Rican historian who as a young pupil was told by his school teacher in San Juan, Puerto Rico that black people have no history and have never accomplished anything of note.

Arturo Alfonso spent the rest of his life not only proving his teacher wrong but educated the world, especially during the Harlem Renaissance, with an ever-growing collection of books, artifacts, recordings, films, and hordes of other materials exemplifying the accomplishments of black people worldwide.

 

FORWARD, ALWAYS FORWARD!

The Young Lords Party

1969-1976 

Felipe Luciano, Afro-Puerto Rican leader of the New York Branch of the Young Lords Party

Residents of Spanish Harlem, which included Puerto Ricans (black, brown, and white), African-Americans, and Dominican Americans marching the streets for social justice.

Panel members of men and women from the Young Lords Party received a standing ovation after addressing a full house of African-Africans, Latinos of all colors, and whites.

Young African-American millennial

addresses her question to the panel 

 Celebrating the 50th Anniversary 

of the birth of the Young Lords Party