Mapping Resistance: The Young Lords in El Barrio (extended through October 15th, 2019) is a public art project exploring the activist history of the Young Lords in East Harlem. The Young Lords were a revolutionary organization of young Puerto Rican activists who organized for social justice in this community during the late 1960s-1970s. They were committed to the liberation of all oppressed peoples, fighting racism and injustice with an emphasis on issues of health, food, housing and education. Inspired by the Black Panthers, they were founded in Chicago in 1968, and formed a New York chapter in East Harlem in 1969.

 

This project features the photography of Hiram Maristany, a lifelong resident of East Harlem who was an original member of the Young Lords in New York, and also their official photographer. Historic photographs of activist moments of the Young Lords have been enlarged and installed throughout the neighborhood (see map), at the same locations where the events took place fifty years ago. Walking tours with inter-generational audiences are taking place throughout the summer - celebrating and reclaiming the activist history of East Harlem at a time when widespread gentrification is threatening to erase it.

 

Mapping Resistance: The Young Lords in El Barrio is a public art project organized by artist Miguel Luciano, currently an artist in residence within The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Civic Practice Partnership. This project is supported by the Surdna Foundation, A Blade of Grass, and El Museo del Barrio.