“¡Basta ya!”—”Enough!” was the feeling of Young Lords member Mickey Melendez and other East Harlem activists.

It was the summer of 1969, and the group had blocked traffic on 110th Street with piles of garbage to protest inadequate sanitation services. They had already asked the city for brooms to clean their neighborhood’s streets and, when refused, they went ahead and took them.

The “garbage offensive” was the first campaign of the city’s Young Lords Organization, a radical “sixties” group led by Puerto Rican youth, African Americans, and Latinx New Yorkers. New York’s Young Lords, although originally part of a national organization, reflected the lived experiences of Puerto Ricans in New York City. The group mounted eye-catching direct action campaigns against inequality and poverty in East Harlem, the South Bronx, and elsewhere.

Many of their campaigns emphasized the need for increased health resources for Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and other communities of color in New York. These campaigns called for improved sanitation services, lead paint detection, free breakfasts for children, testing for tuberculosis, and safe reproductive rights for women. One of the largest campaigns targeted Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, long known for its decrepit building and inadequate care.

They also called for revolutionary changes to U.S. society and national independence for Puerto Rico—through any means necessary. The Young Lords changed their name and emphasis in 1972, after grappling with internal differences and government surveillance. But in three short years, they had equipped their members with lifelong organizing and media skills and achieved lasting victories in health and education in New York and beyond.