Apostles of Change

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Written By Open Plaza

Jorge Juan Rodríguez V and Dr. Felipe Hinojosa discuss his new book on Latino radical politics, church occupations, and the fight to save the barrio

Young Lords member Felipe Luciano addressing a crowd outside the FSUMC [First Spanish United Methodist Church], “Second People’s Church,” October 1970. © Copyright Hiram Maristany; courtesy of Hiram Maristany."In December of 1969, after months of fa…

Young Lords member Felipe Luciano addressing a crowd outside the FSUMC [First Spanish United Methodist Church], “Second People’s Church,” October 1970. © Copyright Hiram Maristany; courtesy of Hiram Maristany.

"In December of 1969, after months of failed negotiations with church leadership, the New York Chapter of the #YoungLords occupied the First Spanish Methodist Church in East Harlem, renamed it 'The People's Church,' and for eleven days hosted community programs within its walls." —Jorge Juan Rodríguez V @JJRod for @UnionSeminary, 12 April 2019

 
 

Dr. Felipe Hinojosa grew up in Brownsville, on the Texas-Mexico border. Steeped in the work of Iglesia Menonita del Cordero, where his father was pastor, he saw early on “the need to dream collectively, as a community." In this episode, Jorge Juan Rodríguez V talks to Dr. Hinojosa about his newest book, Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio (University of Texas Press, 2021). During the American urban crisis of the late 1960s, religious institutions were undergoing fundamental change against the backdrop of the Black and Brown Power movements, which challenged economic inequality and white supremacy. Apostles of Change maps the Latino freedom movements in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Houston. Dr. Hinojosa argues that understanding the history of these radical politics is essential to understanding the dynamic changes in Latino religious groups from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

 
 

“Overwhelmingly readable, Apostles of Change is a counternarrative to the argument that religious politics in the United States became universally more conservative in the 1970s.”

—Lorena Oropeza, author of The King of Adobe: Reies López Tijerina, Lost Prophet of the Chicano Movement  (UNC, 2019)

BUY BOOK—use code UTEXAS for a 40% discount at checkout

 
Featured
Felipe Hinojosa

Born and raised in Brownsville, Texas, Dr. Felipe Hinojosa is the John and Nancy Jackson Endowed Chair in Latin America & Professor of History at Baylor University. He was formerly on faculty at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, where he also served as Director for the university's Carlos H. Cantu Hispanic Education & Opportunity Endowment. His research areas include Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, American Religion, Race and Ethnicity, and Social Movements. Prof. Hinojosa serves on the Advisory Board for the interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, and online moderated forum Latinx Talk. His work has appeared in Zócalo Public Square, Western Historical Quarterly, American Catholic Studies, Mennonite Quarterly Review, and in edited collections on Latina/o Studies. Dr. Hinojosa’s first book, Latino Mennonites: Civil Rights, Faith, and Evangelical Culture (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014) was awarded the 2015 Américo Paredes Book Award for the best book in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies by the Center for Mexican American Studies at South Texas College. His most recent book, Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio (University of Texas Press, 2021), is set in four major cities (Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston), where, in 1969 and 1970, Latino radical activists clashed with religious leaders as they occupied churches to protest urban renewal, poverty, police brutality, and racism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Along with Sergio M. González and Maggie Elmore, he co-edited Faith & Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945 (New York University Press, 2022). Dr. Hinojosa holds a BA in English from Fresno Pacific University, and MA in History from University of Texas Pan American, and a PhD in History from the University of Houston.

Contributors
Jorge Juan Rodríguez V

Dr. Jorge Juan Rodríguez V, the son of two Puerto Rican migrants, grew up with his parents, grandmother, and uncle in a small affordable housing community in urban Connecticut. His story of diaspora, translanguaging, race, and religion propelled his academic journey, leading him to degrees in biblical studies, social theory, liberation theologies, and a PhD in History from Union Theological Seminary. His scholarship examines the intersections of race, religion, and social movements with a particular focus on Black and Brown religious activism in the 20th century, including groups like the New York Young Lords. Dr. Rodríguez is an administrator and educator. In addition to his role as Visiting Assistant Professor of Historical Studies at Union Theological Seminary, he serves full-time as the Associate Director for Strategic Programming at the Hispanic Summer Program, a nonprofit that creates year-round educational spaces for Latinx graduate students of religion. Additionally, Dr. Rodríguez frequently consults with universities and organizations across the country to help them imagine and build more just economic, curricular, and labor systems in their institutions. Learn more about his work at www.jjrodriguezv.com and follow him on Twitter at @jjrodv.

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