Please join us for an evening of live music,  refreshments, and cultural conversation. We’re having a  book discussion with The Young Lords Speak author Jacqueline Lazú. Moderated by SRBCC Executive Director Omar Torres-Kortright. Presented by SEIU Illinois in collaboration with Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center.

Jacqueline (Jacqui) Lazú is a writer, public historian, archivist, and community collaborator whose work bridges scholarship, cultural production, and grassroots activism. A central focus of Lazú’s work has been the Young Lords Organization, a grassroots Puerto Rican group that emerged in Chicago during the late 1960s and became a national force for community empowerment and racial justice. Lazú has also helped shape academic programs and public initiatives at DePaul University that reflect the core themes of her research. She co-founded the Department of Criminology and served as Acting Chair, integrating her work on racial justice, social movements, and state violence into curriculum and faculty development. Lazú is also deeply engaged in public scholarship and community-based work. Her collaborative projects, whether exhibitions, archives, or courses, are grounded in dialogue and mutual learning with artists, activists, students, and cultural workers. Across every space she occupies, Lazú remains committed to expanding access to knowledge, preserving community histories, and cultivating the next generation of critical thinkers and change agents.

Register here.