Rudy Lozano

Rudy Lozano at a Center for Autonomous Social Action meeting in 1975.

By Ani Karagianis

Rudy Lozano was a prominent activist in the Latinx community from the late 1960s to his early death in 1983. Rudy was born in Harlingen, Texas, on July 17, 1951. He was one of six children born to Guadalupe and Anita Lozano.^[1] His father was a union member, and, like Rudy, his younger sister, Emma, was a social activist in the years after his murder.^[2] Though he was born in Texas, Rudy’s formative years were spent in Chicago after moving to Pilsen in the early 1950s. In the late 1960s, Rudy attended Harrison High School in Pilsen, where his activism began.^[3] According to his siblings, Lozano “organized a walkout to protest shoddy facilities” of the school and the lack of Hispanic representation in books, an act partially inspired by his icon, Cesar Chavez.^[4]

After high school, Rudy attended college at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he maintained his activist spirit, teaching at university centers and joining unions.^[5] Not long after finishing college, he became a part of the group Centro de Acción Social Autónoma, Hermanedad General de Trabajadores [Center for Autonomous Social Action, General Brotherhood of Workers] (CASA).^[6] Along with CASA, Lozano was involved with and led the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, in which he helped the women express their dissatisfaction with the union currently representing them. ^[7] Rudy was described  by friends as a “quiet man—hardworking and interested” who would “go out into the street and work with people,” showing himself to be a man of action in his many enterprises.^[8] His goal was to make Pilsen and the West Side safer and cleaner for those living there.

After his work in CASA, Rudy began his political work in Chicago’s 22nd Ward, where he tried to register Latinx voters and increase unity between Latinx and African Americans.^[9] He began his campaign for alderman in 1982 but lost the election in 1983. Although his individual political career was not the most successful, he became a part of Mayor Harold Washington’s transition team.^[10] In this role, he was a prominent member in Chicago’s Latinx community.

Rudy Lozano’s life was cut short on June 8, 1983, when he was murdered by Gregory Escobar, an admitted gang member, in  his home.^[11] His memory remains through the work of his sister, Emma, who created Pueblo Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders), an immigrant rights group, inspired by a phrase used often by Rudy in his own activism,^[12] and in the Latinx community in Chicago. The Rudy Lozano branch of the Chicago Public Library is located today in the Pilsen neighborhood.^[13] His friends and family consider Rudy to be a martyr for his causes and a man to be remembered into the future.^[14]