Abstract
Between 1968–1974, Black and Latinx youth on the Lower West Side of Chicago led walkouts citywide to protest racist policies and terrible school conditions, and one of the legacies of student and community activism is the founding of Benito Juarez Neighborhood Academy High School in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Art educators Nicole Marroquin and Paulina Camacho collaborated on a critical action research project with Benito Juarez High School students for 4 years. Together they explored this complex and unwritten history of the Froebel and Harrison High School uprisings, and groups of students used documentary photographs, newspaper accounts, and firsthand reports to develop artwork, performance, and public interventions in the neighborhood. They examined the role of youth in protecting and enriching our democracy, analyzed how we can recuperate culturally affirming histories that support creative responses to the discriminatory policies in our schools, and discussed how schools can continue to be sites of youth liberation and empowerment.