Book on the Young Lords captures prestigious award

• The Young Lords were the children of Puerto Ricans who migrated to the mainland from the island and faced poverty and inequality.
• The group operated like the Puerto Rican Black Panther Party and caught the attention of the FBI.

Fernandez recreated this untold chapter and often overlooked history of Latinos through interviews, archival material, oral history, and analysis.

• Her book is one of the first Frederick Turner Jackson Awards featuring a work about Puerto Ricans.
• Historians say the Young Lords helped lay the foundations for future movements like Black Lives Matter.

What they're saying: “They are the equivalent of black Twitter then, but they did it in the streets,” Fernandez said in a podcast for CUNY’s Book Beat.

Don't forget: Future journalist and talk show host Geraldo Rivera was a frequent attorney for the Young Lords.

• Rivera said the group was the first Puerto Rican organization that focused on the conditions in Spanish Harlem and Chicago rather than the status of the island.