Article

Salsa Music and Social Movements: The Young Lords, Nuyoricans, and Salsa for Political Activism 

How can music inspire social change? What songs do you find inspiring and motivating?

A Black and white photograph of six leaders of the Young Lords. They stand in a corner with art prints, posters and images. The figures are dressed in jeans and casual shirts. One member is wearing a beret and is holding papers
Leaders of the Young Lords meet at "People's Church." From left, Perez, Ruiz, Jay, Garcia, Devalla, and Diaz.

Gottlieb, Sonnee. Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries,
Philadelphia, PA.

During the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, salsa music emerged as a powerful tool for cultural expression and a rhythm of resistance against social injustice and oppression. Black Power was a revolutionary movement that emphasized Black racial pride, economic empowerment, and demand for Black history courses. Salsa artists composed songs that reflected the experiences and struggles of Afro Latino communities. These melodies were inspirational for Afro Latino youth and organizations who harnessed salsa music as a cultural voice for their fight for equality. Learn more about how salsa music played a part in the Black Power movement.

Salsa Music as a Voice for Equality

Music and cultural performance were widely used as a tool for social justice during the 1960s to 1970s. From Black freedom songs such as “We Shall Overcome” to anti-Vietnam war protest songs like “Fortunate Son” (1969), cultural workers used music and song to express their thoughts on the political climate and injustices.[1] Popular genres were African American spirituals, gospel, jazz, soul, and folk music. Yet, there is another genre that remains understudied during this era: salsa.

Some salsa artists, or salseros or sonatas, responded to their political climate of injustice. Nuyorican (New York Puerto Rican) salseros performed songs about poverty in Spanish Harlem and the continuing fight for a free Puerto Rico.[2] Afro Latinos from other countries were also part of this movement. Afro Cubans wrote songs about historical injustices like enslavement and government oppression in Cuba. For example, Celia Cruz’s song “Azúcar Negra” (1993) referenced enslaved Africans in the sugar plantations. Afro Cuban Frankie Dante & Orquesta Flamboyan expressed anti-war sentiments in “Presidente Dante” (1972). Afro Colombian Joe Arroyo's “La Rebelión” (1988) narrated the story of an enslaved African couple captured by the Spaniards in the 1600s.

Eddie Palmieri, a Nuyorican pianist and salsa artist, was inspired by the civil rights movement and the Black Power movement. Here, Palmieri forged a new sound that spoke to young Nuyorican activists in Harlem. Along with his brother, Charlie Palmieri, he started a short-lived but revolutionary coalition of the Latin, soul, and free jazz musicians called Harlem River Drive.[3] The musical group sonically unified both Black and Spanish Harlem. They also mixed and matched various styles, like guajira funk and soul, and reflected pressing social issues of its time.

The husband-wife folk duo, Pepe y Flora, brought música jíbara (traditional music from rural Puerto Rico’s mountain region) and Latin American protest songs to the Nuyorican political scene. Pepe y Flora used music to help Puerto Ricans “understand their history and feel Puerto Rican.”[4] They often performed at political rallies and introduced the Puerto Rican song of national pride, “Que Bonita Bandera” (“What a Beautiful Flag”), to the Young Lords. This song would later become the organization’s unofficial anthem.

Not all salsa artists wrote of the political climate. Yet salsa songs were inspirational for Afro Latino youth coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Young Lords and the People’s Church Occupation

One of the most iconic places where Pepe y Flora performed salsa music was at the Young Lords’ occupation at the First Spanish United Methodist Church (FSUMC) in Spanish Harlem.

The Young Lords was a youth-led, Puerto Rican organization based in New York City. They were originally a chapter of the Young Lords Organization that originated in Chicago. The NYC Young Lords consisted of Nuyorican and Afro-Latino youth, including Felipe Luciano. They served the Nuyorican population and neighborhood of El Barrio (also known as Spanish Harlem, East Harlem). They challenged discriminatory practices that denied Puerto Ricans protections of US citizenship, such as education, public health, safety, and housing. They also worked to advance the movement for the national liberation and self-determination of Puerto Rico, which became a US territory in 1898.[5] Inspired by the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords organized free programs for community empowerment.

The reverend at FSUMC denied the Young Lords the use of church’s space to host social services and political education programs for the Nuyorican neighborhood. The Young Lords attempted to plead their case to the church congregation and leadership. But they faced a violent clash with undercover police called by the dissenting reverend.[6]

Undeterred, the Young Lords entered the FSUMC and nailed the church doors shut with railroad spikes. They established La Iglesia del Pueblo - the People’s Church at FSUMC. From December 28, 1969, to January 7, 1970, the Young Lords occupied the FSUMC for eleven days. During their occupation, they enacted free neighborhood programs: a free breakfast program for neighborhood children, community health clinics, and popular political education curriculum anchored in Afro Latin history.

In the addition, Young Lords brought salsa music to their organization's cultural front.

The People’s Church of El Barrio as a Radical Arts Space

At the People’s Church, conga drums could be heard from a block away and bomba y plena filled the halls. The Young Lords welcomed impromptu performances, spoken word poetry recitals, and film screenings. The People's Church featured concerts with salseros, like Pepe y Flora. Their high-energy open mics set the stage for new imaginings of what art and culture could look like in a new society, responding to discrimination many Afro-Latino artists and cultural workers faced within traditional arts institutions.

The occupation electrified the neighborhood of El Barrio. It also inspired and mobilized activists, community leaders, and artists across the city. Around a thousand people participated in the activities of the People’s Church from neighbors to invited speakers and allies.[7] A broad coalition supported the Young Lords and the occupation. Among the coalition members were Puerto Rican leaders, anti-poverty and community organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Black Panther Party, other faith-based and church leaders. Even celebrities such as film director Elia Kazan, boxer José Torres, actor Jane Fonda, and salsa stars Joe Cuba, Joe Bataan, and Ray Barretto, showed their support.

On January 7, 1970, the People’s Church occupation ended in a police raid. One hundred and five members of the Young Lords and supporters were escorted out of the church and into police vans. Some members exited the church shouting “power to the people” and some left with raised fists. Others walked out singing the Puerto Rican song “Que Bonita Bandera” (“What a Beautiful Flag”).[8]

Here, salsa filled the streets in the face of oppression. The Young Lords and the People’s Church cultivated a space for what historian Johanna Fernández calls “the first public staging of a Nuyorican identity and idea of a radical Puerto Rican art space.”[9]

While the Young Lords declined in the 1970s, they left a legacy in their experimental, collective art making project in the People’s Church. Furthermore, the Young Lords’ popularized salsa’s upbeat rhythms and tune in social protest and fight for change.

This article was researched and written by Marjorie Justine Antonio, ACE Intern, Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education.


Notes and Bibliography

Tags

Last updated: August 2, 2023