In 1967, One of Elgin’s Earliest Latinx Organizations was Founded

In 1967, One of Elgin’s Earliest Latinx Organizations was Founded

The Latin American Civic Organization was one of Elgin’s first Latino-run organizations. It was founded after an incident between Elgin police and three Latina women in downtown Elgin in 1967. The women were chatting in Spanish when police officers told them to disperse. The women, who didn’t understand English, kept talking. Police arrested them and took them to jail.

Community residents quickly contacted Felix Santana, a leader in Elgin’s Puerto Rican community. Born in Naguabo, Puerto Rico in 1927, Santana served in the U.S. Army Infantry in Puerto Rico during World War II and in Korea with the Air Force. He later moved to Elgin where he worked as a histology technician at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Santana and his wife Geraldine raised four children while Santana ran a weekly Spanish radio show, a Chicago-based Spanish- language newspaper, and sold Spanish-language records from his home at 283 Brook Street.

Santana spoke with police, who released the women.  He called a community meeting that was attended by an estimated 600 Mexican and Puerto Rican residents of Elgin, more than a quarter of the suburb’s entire Latina/o population at the time. That night attendees began organizing the Latin American Civic Organization, whose primary goal was to establish a better rapport between Latino Elgin and the police. The organization elected Santana as its first president. Over the next several years, the organization helped Elgin Latina/os find employment, learn English, and secure housing. The organization ran a space on State Street between Chicago and Highland where it organized dances and parties and helped needy families buy Christmas gifts.

(Photo: Elgin Courier News, Oct. 2, 1968. Santana is seated in center of the front row.)