A Brief History of the Young Lords

A Brief History of the Young Lords The Young Lords was  a Puerto Rican political and social action organization that began on the streets of Chicago and New York City in the late 1960s.  The organization disbanded by the mid-1970s, but their radical grassroots campaigns had long-lasting impacts. Historical Context In 1917, the U.S. Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act, which granted U.S. citizenship to citizens of Puerto Rico. That same year, Congress also passed the Selective Service Act of 1917, which required all male U.S. citizens between the ages of 21 and 30 to register and potentially be selected for military service. As a result of their newfound citizenship and the extension of the Selective Service Act, approximately 18,000 Puerto Rican men fought for the U.S. in World War I.   At the same time, the U.S. government encouraged and recruited Puerto Rican men to migrate to the U.S. mainland to work in factories and shipyards.  Puerto Rican communities in urban areas like Brooklyn and in Harlem grew, and continued to grow after World War I and during World War II. By the late 1960s, 9.3 million Puerto Ricans lived in New York City. Many other Puerto Ricans migrated to Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Origins and Early Social Activism As Puerto Rican communities grew, dwindling economic resources like proper housing, education, employment, and healthcare became increasingly problematic. Despite their involvement in the wartime labor force and  participation in the front lines of both world wars, Puerto Ricans faced racism, lower social status, and limited employment opportunities. In the 1960s, young Puerto Rican social activists gathered in the Puerto Rican neighborhood of Chicago to form the Young Lord Organization. They were influenced by the Black Panther Partys rejection of a white-only society, and they focused on practical activism such as cleaning up neighborhood garbage, testing for disease, and providing social services. The Chicago organizers provided a charter to their peers in New York, and the New York Young Lords was formed in 1969. In 1969, the Young Lords were described as a ‘’street gang with a social and political conscience.’’ As an organization, the Young Lords were considered militant, but they opposed violence. Their tactics often made news: one action, called the â€Å"Garbage Offensive,† involved lighting garbage on fire to protest the lack of garbage pickup in Puerto Rican neighborhoods. On another occasion, in 1970, they barricaded the Bronxs decrepit Lincoln Hospital, collaborating with likeminded doctors and nurses to provide proper medical treatment to community members. The extreme takeover action ultimately led to the reformation and expansion of Lincoln Hospitals health care and emergency services. Birth of a Political Party As membership grew in New York City, so did their strength as a political party. In the early 1970s, the New York group wanted to disconnect with a perceived street gang held by the Chicago branch, so they broke ties and  opened offices in East Harlem, the South Bronx, Brooklyn, and the Lower East Side.   After the split,  the New York City Young Lords evolved into a political action party, becoming known as the  Young Lords Party. They developed multiple social programs and established branches across the Northeast. The Young Lords Party developed a political structure that resembled a complex hierarchy of parties, within the organization aligned with top-down goals. They used an established set of unified goals and principles that guided multiple organizations within the party called the 13 Point Program. The 13 Point Program The Young Lords Partys 13 Point Program established an ideological foundation that guided all organizations and people within the party. The points represented a mission statement and a declaration of purpose: We want self-determination for Puerto RicansLiberation of the Island and inside the United States.We want self-determination for all Latinos.We want liberation of all third world people.We are revolutionary nationalists and oppose racism.We want community control of our institutions and land.We want a true education of our Creole culture and Spanish language.We oppose capitalists and alliances with traitors.We oppose the Amerikkkan military.We want freedom for all political prisoners.We want equality for women. Machismo must be revolutionary... not oppressive.We believe armed self-defense and armed struggle are the only means to liberation.We fight anti-communism with international unity.We want a socialist society. With the 13 Points as a manifesto, sub-groups within the Young Lords Party formed. These groups shared a broad mission, but they had distinct goals, acted separately, and often used  different tactics and methods.   For example, the Womens Union sought to aid women in their social struggle for gender equality. The Puerto Rican Student Union focused on recruiting and educating high school and college students. The Committee for the Defense of the Community focused on social change, establishing nutrition programs for community members and taking on big issues like access to health care. Controversy and Decline As the Young Lords Party grew and expanded  their operations, one branch of the organization became known as the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization. The PPRWO was explicitly anti-capitalist, pro-union, and pro-communist. As a result of these stances, the PPRWO came under scrutiny by the U.S. government and was infiltrated by the FBI. The extremism of certain factions of the party led to increased member infighting. The Young Lords Partys membership declined, and the organization was essentially disbanded by 1976.   Legacy The Young Lords Party had a brief existence, but its impact has been long-lasting. Some of the radical organizations grassroots social action campaigns resulted in concrete legislation, and many former members went on to careers in media, politics, and public service.   Young Lords Key Takeaways The Young Lords Organization was an activist group (and, later, a political party)  aimed at improving social conditions for Puerto Ricans in the United States.Grassroots social campaigns like the Garbage Offensive and the takeover of a Bronx hospital were controversial and sometimes extreme, but they made an impact. Many of the Young Lords activist campaigns resulted in concrete reforms.  The Young Lords Party began to decline  in the 1970s as increasingly extremist factions broke off from the group and faced scrutiny from the U.S. government. The organization had essentially disbanded by 1976. Sources â€Å"13 Point Program and Platform of the Young Lords Party.†Institute of Advanced Technology in the Humanities  , Viet Nam Generation, Inc., 1993, www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Manifestos/Young_Lords_platform.html.Enck-Wanzer, Darrel.  The Young Lords: a Reader. New York University Press, 2010.Lee, Jennifer. â€Å"The Young Lords Legacy of Puerto Rican Activism.†Ã‚  The New York Times, 24 Aug. 2009, cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/the-young-lords-legacy-of-puerto-rican-activism/.â€Å"New York Young Lords History.†Ã‚  Palante, Latino Education Network Service, palante.org/AboutYoungLords.htm.â€Å" ¡Presente! The Young Lords in New York - Press Release.†Ã‚  Bronx Museum, July 2015, www.bronxmuseum.org/exhibitions/presente-the-young-lords-in-new-york.

14 Last Minute ACT Tips You Should Use

14 Last Minute ACT Tips You Should Use SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Wondering what you can do to boost your performance on the ACT with only a couple days to prepare? Here are some last minute ACT tips that will help raise your scores and keep you at your best during the test. General Last Minute Studying Tips Ideally, you'll want to start studying for the ACT long before your exam date in order to be fully prepared for the test. However, last minute studying can also be helpful for learning some final pieces of information and being fully prepared for exam day. If you're studying right before the ACT, you should spend your remaining time wisely. Follow these tips to ensure that the extra effort pays off! Tip 1: Focus on Correcting Your Mistakes It’s easy to take a bunch of practice tests and not bother withanalyzing your incorrect answers, but you won't improve much that way.Now is the time to focus in on topic areas that are particularly problematic for you. You might choose to target just one section of the test and drill down into the reasons you have difficulty with certain types of questions.For each question, make sure you understand why your answer was incorrect and the route you should have taken to arrive at the correct choice. Tip 2: Check Your Timing You don’t need to go through a whole practice test, but you should have a general sense of how you've been pacing yourself so the real test doesn’t take you by surprise.How long do 30 seconds and a minute feel to you?This will help you be a better judge of when you need to move on in the real test environment. Since there's so much time pressure on the ACT, this can make a big difference in your scores. Day of the Test Follow these tips the morning of your ACT to ensure you start the test prepared and on the right foot. Tip 3: Sleep Well, Wake Up Early Go to bed early the night before the test to control for any trouble you might have falling asleep because of nerves.Plan to get seven to nine hours of sleep, and wake up at least an hour before you have to leave for the test. This way your brain will be firing on all cylinders by the time you get there! Tip 4: Eat Breakfast Eat something protein-filled that will give you sustained energy but not make you sluggish. If you normally don’t like eating breakfast,try a granola bar or a handful of nuts. Drink coffee if you usually drink it to stay awake - now probably isn’t the time to kick a caffeine addiction.Don’t drink coffee if you’re not used to it because it could actually make you anxious and less focused on the test. Tip 5: Dress for Success This means the opposite of what it usually means because you should dress as comfortably as possible.Bring layers so you don’t get distracted by being too hot or too cold. Also, pack up everything you need for the test the night before so you don’t forget anything (especially if you're not a morning person!). There are no crayons allowed on the ACT. You may now weep for your childhood. During the Test This is the real deal. Keep these tips in mind while you're taking the ACT to help you out during the exam. Tip 6: Keep Calm and Test On Take it one question at a time, and don’t get discouraged when you can’t figure out an answer.Just skip the question and move forward. Getting worked up will only take away from your focus and hurt your scores. Tip 7: Skip Difficult Questions If you find yourself floundering on a question, skip it and come back to it at the end of the section. There'sa lot of time pressureon the ACT.If you find you’ve spent more than a minute on a question in the Math, Reading, or Science section, move on and come back to it later.In the English section, don’t spend more than 30 seconds trying to figure out any one question before you move on. Don't risk running out of time before you get to every question - you could miss easier points down the road. Tip 8: Check Your Answers If you have time at the end of a section, don’t waste it.Go back and check over your answers to make sure you’re not missing any easily fixable goofs that could happen if you rush through questions. Also make sure all the bubbles on your answer sheet are filled in.Remember, there's no penalty for incorrect answers on the ACT, so you have nothing to lose by guessing. Tip 9: Take Breaks You get two breaks on the ACT assuming you’re taking it with the writing section.The first is between Math and Reading, and the second is between Science and the essay. Take advantage of the breaks to clear your mind, use the bathroom, or eat a snack. You’ll feel better prepared for the rest of the test. Tip 10: If You Take the ACT With Writing, Make Your Essay Clear and Concise Your essay should be pretty formulaic: introduction, three paragraphs, conclusion.Give concrete examples for each of the points in your argument, and make sure your thesis is clearly spelled out in the introduction. Try and make your essay around two pages long (or at least more than a page) because there’s a positive correlation between essay length and score. Tip : Go Guerrilla Warfare on This Test Think of it this way: The ACT is a well organized, regimented army and you’re a ragtag band of misfits using whatever tactics you can to outsmart it. Here’s some relevant info about each section that will help you: English When in doubt, go for the more concise answer.Follow grammar rules, and don’t overthink things. Math Use your calculator as a resource, and make use of the diagrams. If you are trying to figure out an angle or the area of a shape and you’re stumped, choose the answer that seems most logical based on the image. If you find yourself doing complex math, check yourself before continuing.The concepts being tested are fairly simple and should not require elaborate calculations.Look through these formulas, and make sure you know how to use them before the test! This is an example of what you won't be doing on ACT Math. Reading Skim first, then read the questions. You can read more in depth later when the questions point to specific parts of the passage. Try not to overanalyze things: if the evidence for the answer isn't right there in the passage, it’s not the correct answer. Don’t be fooled by answers that are â€Å"almost† correct. Science ACT Science is essentially about logical reasoning, not knowledge of scientific facts (though some basic science knowledge is helpful).Don’t get overwhelmed by a bunch of numbers and terms you don’t understand. This is designed to distract you from getting down to the relatively simple concepts at the core of the sample experiments. Remember, it’s much easier than it looks at first! After the Test Even after you've finished the exam there are still some tips to keep in mind to ensure you send your best ACT scores to schools. Tip 12: Be Aware: You Can Cancel Your Scores If you're really worried about your scores because you know something went horribly wrong on the test, you are allowed to cancel them. For advice on whether you should cancel your scores and how to go about doing so, read this article. Tip 13: Taking the Test Again? Consider the Test Information Release If you know you're going to take the ACT again, you should think about ordering Test Information Release, a service the ACT offers for you to review your scores in more detail. This can be a very useful studying toolbecause it will show you your weak spots in a real test environment. For more information on TIR, read this article. Tip 14: Chill Out It's important to give yourself time to decompress and relax after the test! Don't stress out too much about what may have gone wrong. It’s out of your hands now, and your time and energy are much better spent doing other things that you enjoy for the rest of the weekend. What's Next? Are you trying to decide whether to take the ACT again? This guide will help you make a choice. Then you can figure out which upcoming test date is right for you. If you want to get a head start on studying, check out these study plans for sophomores and juniors, rising seniors, and our complete plan for all students. You should also figure out your target score so you know how far to plan ahead. Also check out our guides for how to get a greatscoreon each section of the ACT for more specific tips! Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today: