Women of the Young Lords
Thursday, July 23, 2015, 6:30pm to 9pm
The Bronx Museum of the Arts – 1040 Lounge
1040 Grand Concourse
Bronx
In conjunction with the exhibition ¡Presente! The Young Lords in New York, this panel will address the significance of the struggle of women within the Young Lords, and will consider the relationship between the organization’s overarching goals and women’s equality. Hosted by Johanna Fernández, with panelists Iris Morales, Denise Oliver, Olguie Robles, Gloria Rodriguez, and Minerva Solla.
The subordinate experience of women in the organization, and the epoch’s dramatic challenges to “common sense” notions of a woman’s place in society kindled a fierce struggle against male chauvinism amongst the Young Lords. Leading Young Lords members, like Iris Morales and Denise Oliver, began to expose the organization’s institutionalized forms of sexism, including the 13 Point Program’s support for “revolutionary machismo.” In the summer of 1970, female members of the group formed a women’s caucus to discuss these matters, pressured the formal leadership of the Young Lords to elect a woman into its ranks, and began to publish La Luchadora, a newspaper that addressed issues of women’s oppression. The Young Lords’ “Position Paper on Women” is the only comprehensive position on the subject of equality and women of color of any ethnic nationalist organization of the period. Panelists include Iris Morales, former Deputy Minister of Education in the Young Lords Party and producer of “Pa’lante, Siempre Pa’lante”, a video documentary on the party; cultural anthropologist Denise Oliver-Velez, who was the first woman elected to the central committee of the Young Lords Party, where she was Minister of Economic Development and, and contributed significantly to the production of Pa’lante, the major news organ of the organization; and Minerva Solla, who had the first child to be born into the Young Lords Party and is currently Vice President of 1199 Healthcare Workers’ Union.
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