Cold Open

It’s just after midday on June 17th, 1970, in Manhattan, New York.

Twenty-two-year-old Miguel “Mickey” Melendez maneuvers a large truck through the busy streets. He’s never driven something this big before—the truck belongs to the New York City Health Department, and Mickey has not been given permission to drive it. But he’s not worried about that right now.

Mickey is a member of the Young Lords Party, a group of radical civil-rights activists. Mickey and his mostly Puerto Rican comrades believe there is a tuberculosis epidemic underway in their community, and no one is doing a thing to stop it. So today, Mickey and the Young Lords have hijacked the city health department’s mobile X-ray truck and brought it to their headquarters.

Mickey nears the corner of Madison Avenue and 111th Street. Waiting for him, there is a crowd of nearly two hundred people.

They clap and cheer Mickey’s arrival as he brings the vehicle to a jerking stop.

And with the truck safely parked, Mickey opens the driver’s door and climbs out.

He smiles at some of the faces he recognizes in the crowd as he rounds the vehicle.

Then, he opens up the back of the truck to reveal an X-ray machine and two very confused technicians.

Mickey helps them out and introduces them to the crowd. Mickey asks for the technicians’ help to X-ray every member of the public waiting here today.

Sharing a look with his colleague, the first technician nods.

An elderly woman from the neighborhood is the first to step forward, and Mickey invites her into the truck...as the technicians switch on their machine to get to work.

By the end of the day, Mickey Melendez will have overseen the examination of more patients than the X-ray technicians would normally see in a week. And the Young Lords’ stunt will reveal many undiagnosed cases of tuberculosis. He'll also lead to a change in city policy, making the truck more accessible to the people who need it most. The hijacking is such a success that even the kidnapped X-ray technicians will praise it. And it will encourage the Young Lords to move forward with an even bigger plan—to take over an entire hospital on July 14th, 1970.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is July 14th, 1970: The Lincoln Hospital Takeover.

Act One: Takeover

It’s just after 5:00 AM, on July 14th, 1970, in the South Bronx, New York, a month after the Young Lords hijacked a mobile X-ray truck.

Twenty-two-year-old Mickey Melendez is once again behind the wheel of a vehicle. But today he’s on a new mission. This time, his truck isn’t carrying X-ray technicians; instead, it’s crammed with members of the Young Lords, all dressed in white doctors’ coats.

The streets are still quiet when Mickey parks outside the Lincoln Hospital and climbs out. He throws open the back doors of the truck and starts handing out baseball bats and nunchuks to the men and women inside. While he arms his comrades, two more trucks filled with activists pull up alongside Mickey. Soon, a small army, a hundred strong, has gathered on the sidewalk.

Their mission is to enter the Lincoln Hospital and seize control, using force if necessary. And when Mickey is certain everyone is ready, he gives the signal, and the activists rush toward the building, putting their latest plan into action.

The end of the 1960s was a turbulent time in the United States. Civil Rights protests, the seemingly never-ending Vietnam War, and the assassinations of leading political figures left many feeling frightened, angry, and marginalized. This led to the emergence of a wide range of new radical political movements, and among them were the Young Lords.

Founded in Chicago by Jose Jimenez. At first, they were a gang mostly known for petty theft and street fighting. And it wasn’t long before Jose was behind bars. But there, he was introduced to the work of revolutionary civil rights activists like Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, and he started to take an interest in politics.

As a Puerto Rican, Jose had long felt that many people in the United States didn’t see him or his community as real American citizens. And while he was in prison, he decided that Puerto Ricans needed someone to fight for them. So, once Jose was released in the summer of 1968, he pushed the Young Lords gang away from crime and into activism.

But it wasn’t just in Chicago that the Puerto Rican community felt mistreated. In New York, men and women like Mickey Melendez and his friends were also sick of being treated like second-class citizens. They were often the victims of police brutality, and the local hospital, which treated them, was in desperate need of funding.

So, in May of 1969, Jose Jimenez approved a New York chapter of the Young Lords. This new group quickly got to work with headline-making protests of its own. And after the success of the X-ray truck stunt, the Young Lords of New York hope that their takeover of Lincoln Hospital will shine a spotlight on the poor conditions and under-investment at that facility.

Though they’re brandishing weapons, Mickey and the Young Lords meet no resistance from the security guards at the hospital's entrance. The facility’s staff are predominantly Puerto Rican, and many have been tipped off about the planned takeover. So, most of the security and staff just stand aside. Others even help, holding open doors for the activists as they make their way into the building.

Once inside, Mickey’s first task is to make the hospital secure. To ensure police officers can’t simply walk in and pull the Young Lords out, Mickey instructs his fellow activists to chain the doors shut. Any patients or medical personnel who need to come or go will still be able to—this is not a hostage situation. But Mickey wants control over every entry and exit point.

Once the hospital is locked down, Mickey then enters the administrative office. For months, the Young Lords have been writing letters to the hospital about the poor treatment of its Puerto Rican patients. But they’ve all been ignored. But hospital administrators can’t ignore Mickey now. He demands the administrative team leave the hospital at once. Because the Young Lords are in charge now.

As the administrators file out of the building, two members of the Young Lords take to the hospital rooftop. There, they hoist a giant Puerto Rican flag to the top of a tall flagpole. Then, from the second-floor windows, other activists unveil a huge banner that reads “Welcome to the People’s Hospital”.

After just thirty minutes, the Young Lords have successfully taken over the Lincoln Hospital. They have a list of demands and are ready to get to work, showing the world just how bad conditions are at the hospital and insisting change be made. What they don’t know yet whether anyone will listen.

Act Two: Business as Usual

It’s 9:00 AM, on July 14th, 1970, in the South Bronx, four hours after the Young Lords entered Lincoln Hospital.

Miguel “Mickey” Melendez paces down the hallways, getting a firsthand look at the state of the building. The walls are filthy, cockroaches scuttle across the floor, and patients sleep in chairs while they wait to be seen by the overwhelmed medical staff.

Lincoln Hospital has been largely forgotten by City Hall and is so dilapidated that it was condemned by the council years ago, but it still remains standing all the same. With a mortality rate three times the national average, this ramshackle hospital has such a bad reputation that its local nickname is The Butcher Shop.

But Mickey isn’t just here to spotlight the problems the hospital faces. He’s come armed with solutions, too.

Before today, Mickey and the other Young Lords agreed on their priorities for this protest. Raising political awareness about the plight of Puerto Ricans is high on their agenda. But so is broader healthcare reform. The Young Lords want to make the Lincoln Hospital a community-first hub, dispensing vital medical care and health education.

So, in an unused room, Mickey supervises the creation of a new testing facility. He talks to a dozen nurses before dividing them into two teams. Assisted by the Young Lords, one team of nurses will test patients for tuberculosis, the other for lead poisoning – both common conditions in the poorer communities in the Bronx.

Elsewhere, Mickey finds his comrades hastily arranging a makeshift classroom. It’s here that Mickey himself is going to give a lecture on health education and politics to anyone in the hospital who wants to listen to what he has to say.

But before he can take his place at the front of the class, the Young Lords tell him the New York Police Department is on the phone. They know all about the takeover, and they aren’t going to just sit back and do nothing.

Taking the call in the administrator's office, Mickey pulls a notepad from his pocket with a list of the Young Lords’ demands. He begins to read them one by one. Among their requests are 24-hour childcare for staff and visitors, the assurance of no more cutbacks in the immediate future, and the promise of a brand-new hospital in the long term.

As Mickey talks with the police, members of the press are allowed into the hospital to report on the takeover. They’ve been tipped off by the Young Lords—it’s all part of the group’s plan. Mickey and his comrades wanna drum up support for their cause by showing the world just how bad the hospital is. So, they let reporters film the bloodstained walls, the filthy floors, and the huge banners declaring the hospital the property of the people. Then, at a makeshift press conference, various members of the Young Lords explain why they felt need to take this action, and why the takeover is crucial for their community.

As the media relay the Young Lords’ message to the people of New York, Mickey explains to the NYPD that he and his fellow activists will leave the building peacefully if their demands are met. But the police negotiators on the other end of the line don’t have the power to grant any of the group’s requests. So, they arrange a call between Mickey and the New York City Mayor’s assistant, Sid Davidoff.

But despite being sympathetic to the Young Lords’ call for action, Sid can only promise so much. He knows that if he gives in too easily, it could prompt similar protests throughout the city, and that would lead to chaos.

But while negotiations with the Mayor’s office continue, the NYPD decides that their officers will have to move into the hospital to end the standoff.

It’s not a solution that anyone wants. Although they came to Lincoln armed with clubs and nunchuks, the Young Lords always hoped their stunt would remain peaceful. And for their part, the police don’t want to risk the safety of officers or patients by having to force their way into the hospital. But it seems that there’s no alternative. So over the next few hours, the police will gather their forces around Lincoln Hospital. And inside the building and on the street outside, fears will grow that the Young Lords’ takeover can only end one way—in violence.

Act Three: Real Change

It’s just after 5:00 PM, on July 14th, 1970, at Lincoln Hospital in the south Bronx, twelve hours after the Young Lords took over the building.

One of the leaders of the group, Miguel “Mickey” Melendez, throws on a white doctor’s lab coat and tells the rest of the Young Lords to do the same.

Looking out from a second-floor window, Mickey sees the NYPD mobilizing on the street below. Mickey knows that the Young Lords could stay and fight, forcing the police to drag them out. But the images of violence on the news won’t help their cause—it’ll only make it easier for the authorities to dismiss the Young Lords as violent thugs and ignore their important message. So, Mickey has come up with a different plan.

Dressed in the doctors’ disguises they wore to enter the building, the Young Lords take turns simply walking out of the building alongside the regular hospital staff. The unsuspecting cops on the street have no way of knowing they’re watching the activists leave the scene. And by the time they storm the hospital, almost all of the Young Lords have vanished.

This peaceful surrender of Lincoln Hospital is thanks to negotiations between the Mayor’s office and the Young Lords. While most of the activists’ demands have not been met, a deal has been struck which includes an off-the-record commitment to build a new hospital.

They didn’t get everything they wanted, but the Young Lords are satisfied. Despite the success of their protest, however, the group will fracture and split in the aftermath of this hospital takeover. Some members will accuse the FBI of infiltrating and disrupting the party. But even with the demise of the Young Lords, the activists will still leave behind a legacy. In March 1976, a new $200 million hospital will be opened to serve the local community, and the old dilapidated Lincoln will finally be shut down, seven years after the Young Lords took it over to spotlight a failing health system on July 14th, 1970.

Outro

Next on History Daily. July 15th, 1983. The revolutionary Nintendo Entertainment System console is released in Japan.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Supervising Sound Designer Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by Joel Callen.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.