Through the Eyes of Rebel Women: The Young Lords, 1969-1976

by Iris Morales

THROUGH THE EYES OF REBEL The Young Lords, 1969-1976 is the first book about the experiences of the women members — a "story within a story" told from the inside out. The Young Lords Organization emerged in New York in the late sixties to fight poverty, racial and gender inequality, and the colonial status of Puerto Rico. Women in the Young Lords organized to build a people's movement and fought the “revolution within the revolution” believing that women’s equality was inseparable from the society’s progress as a whole.

Written and edited by Iris Morales, THROUGH THE EYES OF REBEL WOMEN consists of essays, interviews, and primary source documents. Morales chronicles the revolutionary rise of the Young Lords, the contributions of women, and the group’s decline.

Personal interviews with former women members conducted for the film ¡Palante, Siempre Palante! The Young Lords have been edited for the book. Photographs and articles written from 1969 through 1973 complete the volume. The entire narrative affirms that social movements do not develop in a vacuum but arise to spearhead solutions to the injustices occurring in society.

Dr. Edna Acosta-Belén, distinguished historian and women’s studies scholar, “These women activists are ... the brave feminist warriors who battled for equality in intersecting (not isolated or separated) arenas of class, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality; part of that noble league of defenders of universal human rights.”

Ericka Huggins, human rights activist, former Black Panther Party member, and political prisoner, “As I read this book, I was continually inspired by the history of the Young Lords and the great women within it. Iris Morales writes a story that parallels the story of the women in the Black Panther Party and women throughout the globe. The structural and interpersonal work we must do to uplift humanity always starts from the inside out!”

Through the Eyes of Rebel Women is a must-read for everyone interested in the Puerto Rican and people's movements of the 1960s and 70s in the United States.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Social Justice, Gender, Feminism, Politics, Race

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2016

About the author

Iris Morales (born 1948) is a New York-based Latina activist. She is best known for her work with the Young Lords, a Puerto Rican community activist group in the United States.

Reviews

[Rolf]

This is the kind of feminist writing and scholarship I wish we saw more--the kind based in radical politics, and writing from and about the lens of minoritized working-class women. Also great to see scholarship highlighting the Young Lords, who don’t get the same kind of coverage as the Black Panthers.

[Claudia]

“I felt my life was one of purpose and contribution to our people. We were young people willing to put ourselves on the line for the Puerto Rican people.” 🇵🇷🤍✨🥹

[Claudia Cecilia]

The way this book is still so relevant in today’s current events is crazy. When you read this book you’re transported back in time when the Young Lords organized in New York and took time to educate, feed, gave health exams to their community and so much more. The work the Young Lords did is something we should be striving to continue today. The way the women of this book worked and continue to work and speak the way they do about their communities and this capitalist/US imperialist society is revolutionary.

This book is so inspiring to read, i can’t even describe how much it means that Iris Morales took the time to write her story and share the stories of other women. These women are powerful, strong, incredible organizers and activists and their work should inspire us all to get to work.

Puerto Rican women, black women, women of color are always leading the path of resistance and we still need to involve as many people as we can.

A Iris Morales le doy mis gracias - porque en momentos de poca esperanza me ha dado mucha más con las historias de estas mujeres. Estás mujeres fueron tracked por el FBI y todavía continuaron su trabajo, ayudaron a sus comunidades, educaron a su gente y siguieron organizando. Siempre seré inspirada por estas historias y el trabajo de los Young Lords.

¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!

[Maria]

“But these days, my role models are the young people. Usually the role model is the older person, la que sabe, you know, we’ve lost one generation, but there’s another generation that I’m not about to lose and that we can’t lose. The kind of organizing, thinking, participating, and work that they’re doing is incredible. It just keeps me going, and it helps me realize that all this was worth it because of what I see happening today.”

Like a 3.75 rounded up. This felt very timely as it is, and then Bad Bunny’s new album released and triggered all sorts of conversations on social media. This taught me a lot of history I hadn’t heard about and I loved the reflections section. It felt a tiny bit repetitive at times, but it is heavy on information to I understand why the author chose to do that.

[Metzi]

Having grown up in the 80s in NYC, this was an eye opener because there was much I didn't know was going on. I'm Latina, but not PR, so my family didn't have any kind of involvement with anything related to this movement. I am grateful and admire the YLP for all that they did for their people, because many other groups have benefited from their courage.
I really like the book. I feel it tries to be objective in retrospect and present the facts as clearly as possible. So many things have not changed. Women still have almost as far to go now as they did in the 70s in attaining any semblance of equality. Yes, we do indeed need another YLP.

[Marisabel]

Really loved the experience of hearing directly from the women organizing with the Young Lords in such an earnest way. As the internal struggles within the org shows, the importance of gender perspective can be minimized in class struggle, but it's really to acknowledge how gender inequality is a central tool of capitalism and class division. I could really tell the women of this book continue to believe sincerely in the importance of the work and legacy of the Young Lords as well the mission of class struggle. The organizational history sections were really comprehensive and incredible with the perspective that it all happened within a couple years.

[switching to StoryGraph: ka_cam]

A good overview with interesting insights, experiences, and views. Good for one moderately acquainted with The Young Lords, as there was some assumed knowledge but little advanced or technical analysis (aka, I, fairly ignorant student, was able to easily follow it- not a challenging read, took less than 3 hours). That said I found it rather simplistic and a bit repetitive. Still, worth the time of young people and others looking to participate in modern movements for social change and those struggling with intersectionality within movements.

[xomiichellexo]

I’m so glad I found this book. This is a history we don’t really hear about but a history that is important to know as a Puerto Rican woman. We are stronger together, we always have been and always will. It’s accepting that fact that seems to be the issues faced then and the issues faced today. So much to learn from this.