As part of the Ellin M. Kelly Internship program, current interns Sarah Wilson and Kiara Ruiz were able to shadow and assist in an instruction session in Special Collections and Archives. Kiara Ruiz describes this instruction session below.
On May 8th, Special Collections and Archives (SPCA) had the opportunity to host students from Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School, located in the historically Puerto Rican neighborhood of Humboldt Park. Students visited SPCA to learn more about the Young Lords, specifically Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez. This instruction session highlighted the locations in the neighborhood where the Young Lords were active in community-building and protest, along with comparisons to what those spaces look like now. Instruction and Outreach Archivist Derek Potts creates many lesson plans like this relating to the Lincoln Park community, using materials from the archives to expand students’ understanding of the neighborhood around DePaul.
The first part of the field trip took place within the Special Collections and Archives classroom located on the 4th floor of the John T. Richardson Library. The group received an introduction to Special Collections and Archives, and the nature of archival materials, along with a tutorial on how to safely handle materials. The students were then split into groups to examine thematically curated materials at each table.
For example, one table focused on the relationship between DePaul University and the Young Lords. In 1969 the Black Student Union occupied the SAC building as a result of feeling unheard and their demands being unmet by the university. The primary sources at the BSU table documented protests and student activism at DePaul. The Young Lords and Black Panthers were both involved in the BSU protest, connecting student demands with the surrounding community. The Young Lords also provided critical support for the Black Student Union to hold the SAC building during the occupation. Other tables in the classroom included primary sources documenting urban renewal in Lincoln Park in the 1960s and 1970s, the McCormick Seminary Stone Academic Building takeover, oral history interviews, and newspaper articles from DePaulia, Aletheia, and Lincoln Park Press.
Once the students familiarized themselves with the primary sources, the next portion of the session continued to engage the students by walking around the DePaul campus and the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Students were shown the locations where events took place and were able to compare what was in front of them to images of Young Lords’ activity in Lincoln Park. Students asked many thought-provoking questions throughout the walking tour, wondering about the long-term impact of the Young Lords’ activism in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.
Special Collections and Archives partners with DePaul faculty to develop course-specific instruction using rare books, archives, maps, and other unique items. Special arrangements may be made for instruction sessions with high schools and other groups when there is a clear educational need for specific materials held in DePaul’s Special Collections and Archives.
- Selected materials from the Collection on the Young Lords displayed in the classroom for students to view.
- Steve Berry, chairman of the Black Student Union, reads the BSU demands in the Pit. The DePaulia, May 19th, 1969. DePaul Special Collections and Archives, Chicago, IL.
- José “Cha Cha” Jiménez and members of the Young Lords Organization stand in front of Armitage Avenue Methodist Church, Chicago and Lincoln Park Ephemera, Box 16, Folder 18, DePaul Special Collections and Archives, Chicago, IL.