The Young Patriots Eye the Black Panthers’ Civic Model
The Young Patriots was an organization inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign. King’s goal was to unite people of all backgrounds in order to address the problems of poverty and poor housing. The Young Patriots’ membership consisted primarily of White migrants from Appalachia who had left the rural poverty of the South and come to Chicago for work and new lives. They settled in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, where they encountered urban poverty and suffered from hunger and poor health. Labeled “hillbillies” and poor White trash, they were harassed by the Chicago police.
Young Patriots Junebug Boykin, Bobby McGinnis, and Hy Thurman were initially part of the group JOIN, which was made up of poor migrants and members of Students for a Democratic Society. However, they grew frustrated with JOIN because they felt the group was too heavily controlled by middle-class White students who failed to prioritize the problems plaguing poor Whites in Uptown. Members of the Young Patriots began to study the organizing efforts of the Black Panther Party and Young Lords.
Young Patriots leader William ”Preacherman” Fesperman (second from left in cowboy hat) and Black Panther Party leaders Bobby Lee, Billy “Che” Brooks, and Fred Hampton (left to right) attend a rally, Chicago, 1969.
