September 11, 2025—February 8, 2026
Tengo Lincoln Park en mi Corazón: Young Lords in Chicago explores the Young Lords Organization's (YLO) trajectory in the Lincoln Park neighborhood amidst gentrification and urban renewal, which displaced the vibrant Puerto Rican community of the 1950s and 1960s. Originally a street gang, the Young Lords transformed into a prominent civil rights organization. The exhibition explores the origins of the movement, emphasizing the concept of counter-mapping as a means of activism and community empowerment. Counter-maps are cartographies that reveal the knowledge and resistance of communities, challenging historical displacement and invisibility imposed by traditional maps.The exhibition will feature historical artifacts and multimedia installation for visitors to engage with the intersections of history, activism, and the geography of memory within one of the most influential movements in Latinx civil rights history, deeply rooted in a distinctive Chicago neighborhood. DePaul was one of several institutions that benefited from displacing the Puerto Rican barrio and other working-class communities in Lincoln Park. The Young Lords held these institutions accountable. Notably, the group occupied the Stone Administration Building at McCormick Seminary in May 1969 (now DePaul's School of Music North Building) and it remains one of the last structures in Lincoln Park directly linked to the YLO and attracts visitors interested in this history.
Tengo Lincoln Park en mi Corazón: Young Lords in Chicago is curated by DePaul University Professor Jacqueline Lazú and organized by DePaul Art Museum.
Image credit: Young Lords members protesting the Vietnam War in a march from Lincoln Park to Humboldt Park, 1969. ST-70004742-0005, Chicago Sun-Times collection, Chicago History Museum.