Introduction/Rationale
While the mid 1960's featured race riots on both coasts Harlem (East) and Watts (West), Humboldt Park was thought of as just another neighborhood in Chicago. Written about one week before The Division Street Riots, a Chicago Police Department intelligence report referred to Humboldt Park as "'a tough, but quiet neighborhood. No signs of any trouble there." 1
Articles from The Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Tribune explain that what started as a minor incident, in which two policemen were called in to break up a fight at the corner of Division and Damen, turned into a three day battle between the Chicago Police Department and the Puerto Rican community. All of the reports have vague details, but what is known is that 20 year-old Arcelius Cruz was dead. Police claimed that Cruz had pulled a gun, but many of the crowd claimed that he was unarmed. Nevertheless, Arcelius lay on the street dying while a crowd quickly gathered. As the crowd multiplied the officers called the incident in and asked for more officers and police dogs. After three days of fighting 400 police officers were brought in, 30 people were arrested, seven people were shot, three police cars set on fire, and one, Arcelius Cruz, was dead. June 5 th – 12 th was the first time Chicago's mayor Richard J. Daley acknowledged Puerto Rican Chicago. Many people gathered in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood for a weeklong calendar of events. No one would have guessed that it would end in tragedy and more poignant bring forth a tension that had been buried since 1493.
Currently, high above the intersection of Division and Western on Chicago's Westside (Humboldt Park) stands a large metal Puerto Rican bandera (flag). Another of these flags appears directly six blocks west of Western at the intersection of Division and California. Together these two banderas represent the geographic boundaries of the Puerto Rican neighborhood of Chicago. Erected in 1996, the 30 th anniversary of The Division Street Riots, these two flags and the space between them were renamed the Paseo Boricua. Not only does this area represent a physical presence of Puerto Rican pride, but it is also a cultural mecca of heritage in regards to the Taino Indians (the original inhabitants of Puerto Rico) and Puerto Rican culture. While my students understand the physical layout of the Paseo, many don't know the history and importance of the Paseo. Before students set out on their post-secondary career I want them to journey through a rich history that is right across the street from their school.
By using original and gathered artifacts, students will examine the history of Chicago's Paseo Boricua by engaging students of both Puerto Rican and non-Puerto Rican heritage to participate in the concept of otherness, while examining the access and agency that is available to the Humboldt Park region of Chicago. Students will be using the Paseo, as well as Italo Calvino's mystical book Invisible Cities and segments of theorist Michel de Certeau's essays from The Practice of Everyday Life as a backdrop to their own visible and invisible histories.
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