Puerto Ricans began settling in Chicago in significant numbers from the 1940s onward.

By the 1960s, a second generation had grown up fully shaped by Chicago life + Puerto Rican culture.

During the civil rights era, Puerto Rican activists, artists, and community organizers in neighborhoods like Humboldt Park began using Chi-Rican as a self-defined identity, similar to how Nuyorican was being reclaimed in New York.

The term gained traction through political organizing, poetry, music, and community movements rather than mainstream media.