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Chicago’s White Appalachian Poor and the Rise of the Young Patriots Organization

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Abstract

Founded in 1968, the Young Patriots Organization brought together white Southerners living in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood in an effort to confront the poverty and discrimination that they faced in their new urban home. After joining together with the Black Panthers in a class-conscious interracial alliance known as the Rainbow Coalition, the Young Patriots developed an ideology that blended ardent anti-racism and anti-capitalism with a celebration of white Southern culture. Though their ideology failed to spread more widely, their community service initiatives, including a free breakfast program and local health clinic, provided necessary support to an isolated and underserved community.

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Krzywy, M.A. Chicago’s White Appalachian Poor and the Rise of the Young Patriots Organization. J Afr Am St 23, 364–388 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-019-09438-6

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