The 1950's and 1960's brought about a group of new leaders and heroes. It also brought about the destruction of the constitutional foundation upon where legalized segregation rested. The 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a great legal triumph. Although it did not instantly end school segregation, it made future gains possible. This period in history presented us influential leaders like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and heroics from Rosa Parks and the four college students' "sit-in" in North Carolina. The Nation of Islam was stronger than ever under its leader the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Latin leaders were rising around the Americas like Che Guevara, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, and Piri Thomas who's book "Down These Mean Streets" contributed to the Afro-Latino concept. The zenith of the Civil Rights Movement also wrote a new chapter in the history of the African-American, from one of tragedy and violence to one of courage and strength, filled with hope.

Most of all this era gave birth to two organizations that would influence the creation of our Fraternity and whose paradigm provided us with the foundation of our ideals: The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and The Young Lords Party.

The Black Panther Party was founded in October 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in Oakland, Ca. In ten years they grew to 5,000 strong nationwide, with chapters in most of the US and an international branch in Algeria. The Black Panther Party fed the hungry, and armed with law books and rifles, protected people from racist police. They created, in the early 1970's the "survival programs", which consisted of free food, free health clinics and free breakfast programs for children. Non-supporters of The Party saw them as anti-government militants; a view which contrived the outrage of Law Enforcers and eventually led to the murder of several Party members. For those not killed, the threat of incarceration was always present. Some would be arrested on what often seemed like fabricated charges. Despite government animosity, the organization flourished and attracted some of the most eloquent young African-Americans of the 60's. Among them were Stokeley Carmichael and activist Angela Davis. But it was government-born complications and disagreements within the Party itself which led to its decline by the mid-1970s.

The largest migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States took place in the late 1940's. Puerto-Rican people, even though they arrived in this country as United States citizens, because of the language barrier they experienced economic impairment and cultural discrimination. In the thick of the Civil Rights movement and racial turmoil that had polluted this country, the children of the Puerto Rican immigrants were now approaching adulthood. Realizing a need for Latino consciousness in the community and improvement in the conditions of the Latino status, The Young Lords were born. The Young Lords were originally founded in Chicago but the prevailing Chapter that became eminent was the one established on July 26, 1969 in New York City. The Young Lords Organization fought for the empowerment of the Puerto Rican and Latino community. The organization consisted primarily of young Latino people who, similar to the Black Panthers, through direct community action and education, made an impact on the conditions of the Latino community. Some of the Young Lords activities or "Offensives" included taking over the People's Church in East Harlem after the Pastor refused to allow them to use the empty Church to run Community services and Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx to provide care for Blacks and Latinos who would be discriminated in the Emergency Room. In one instance, one of the most popular members, Felipe Luciano, witnessed a Latino bleeding to death in the emergency room while waiting to be attended. After taking over the hospital they forced doctors and nurses to attend to the minority patients immediately. The Young Lords also fought for education rights, created breakfast programs and forced the city to deal with the drug and health problems of barrio residents. For example, by spreading the streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan with garbage, they forced the sanitation department to clean up when they refused to service the predominantly Latino residential area. They also insisted on a ban against lead-based paints that was being used in government housing apartments. Eventually, the Young Lords Party disintegrated, unlike the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords were not decimated by governmental violence; instead, law enforcement agencies destabilized the organization by igniting pre-existing rivalries and political disagreements within it.

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