Uptown, Chicago in the 1960s was a neighborhood struggling with poverty. Thousands of poor white Southerners migrated to the community in the 50s and 60s in search of work, but were met with low-paying jobs, substandard housing, and brutality from the police of the Summerdale precinct. A group of young Southern migrants called the Young Patriots worked with the Black Panthers and others to organize the community around these issues, building a unique identity of left-wing hillbilly nationalism in Chicago.

SOURCES:

Melville House Books interview with Hy Thurman:

https://www.mhpbooks.com/revolutionary-hillbilly-an-interview-with-hy-thurman-of-the-young-patriots-organization/

Rising Up Angry (with links to back issues):

http://www.risingupangry.org/about

Belt Magazine: The Young Patriots and the Fight for the Working Class in Uptown

https://beltmag.com/young-patriots-working-class-chicago/

Chicago Magazine: Hank Williams Village: Chicago’s Best Urban Plan That Never Happened

https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/June-2013/Hank-Williams-Village-Chicagos-Best-Urban-Planning-Idea-that-Never-Happened/

Chicago Magazine: Chicago’s Hillbilly Problem During the Great Migration

https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/January-2012/Chicagos-Hillbilly-Problem-During-the-Great-Migration/

Young Patriots Tour of Uptown in Chicago led by Hy Thurman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8G2t2VcsLw&ab_channel=Unjustified