The Black Panther Party

Original Members  The six original members, Nov  Top left to right: Elbert Howard, Huey Newton, Sherman Forte, Bobby Seale  Bottom: Reggie Forte, and Little Bobby Hutton

Origins: The Founding  Started October 1966 in Oakland, California  Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale  Initially called “The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense”  One of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for ethnic minority and working class emancipation.

Origins: Historical Context  They believed that blacks were obliged to wage fierce survival struggles in the U.S.  Organizations such as the NAACP and UNIA were created to promote civil rights and independence for blacks.  There were also efforts by former slave Booker T. Washington to establish a separate socioeconomic scheme for blacks.  “America’s response to all such efforts was violent and repressive and unyielding.”

Historical Context  Some relief came in 1954 when the Supreme Court ruled, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, that separate was not equal for blacks in America (at least with respect to public education).  Even after Brown blacks struggled to integrate and become full partisans in American society.  In 1955 numerous boycotts and sit ins were being held in Montgomery, Alabama.  These acts in favor for civil rights began to further challenge white America as a whole; no longer could they over look the growing voices of discontent.

Historical Content  Finally, in 1964, the U.S. Congress passed a civil rights act that outlawed racial segregation in public facilities, but it came too late.  Images of nonviolent blacks and other civil rights workers and demonstrators being beaten and water hosed by police, spat on and jailed for protesting social injustices were seen across the nation.  “…Young urban blacks rejected [the idea of] nonviolence.”

Goals and ideals  The party’s agenda was the revolutionary establishment of real economic, social and political equality across gender and color lines.  Black Panther Theory: The practices of the late Malcolm X were deeply rooted in the theoretical foundations of the Black Panther Party.  Followed Malcolm’s belief of international working class unity across the spectrum of color and gender and united with various minority and white revolutionary groups.

The Ten Point Plan 1.We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities. 2.We want full employment for our people. 3.We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our black and oppressed communities. 4.We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings. 5.We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.

The Ten Point Plan 6.We want completely free health care for all black and oppressed people. 7.We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, all oppressed people inside the United States. 8.We want an immediate to all wars of aggression. 9.We want freedom for all black and oppressed people now held in the U.S. federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of the country. 10.We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people’s community control of modern technology.

International Reaches  The effects of the Black Panthers have rippled across many countries, however briefly.  International groups have included the Black Panther Movement and the White Panthers of the United Kingdom, the Black Panther Party of Israel, the Black Beret Cadre of Bermuda, the Dalit Panthers of India, and the Black Panther Party of Australia.  Clemons & Jones (2001) concluded that the ideology of the Panthers, underlined by a commitment to self-determination and the elimination of all forms of discrimination, found resonance with oppressed people around the world.

Other subgroups  Black Panther coalition and support groups began to spring up internationally in Japan, China, France, England, Germany, Sweden, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uruguay and Israel.  There was a rapid proliferation of other, like minded organizations.  Chicanos or Mexican Americans in South California formed the Brown Berets.  Whites in Chicago formed the White Patriot Party.

Other subgroups: cont.  Chinese in the San Francisco Bay Area formed the Red Guard.  Puerto Ricans in New York created the Young Lords.  A group of so called senior citizens organized the Gray Panthers to address human and civil rights abuses of the elderly in society.

Survival programs  There came to more than 35 programs in the 1960 ’ s that were referred to as Survival Programs and were operated by Party members under the slogan “ survival pending revolution. ”  Free Breakfast for Children Program, which spread from being operated at one small Catholic church to every major city in America where there was a Party chapter.  Thousands upon thousands of poor and hungry children were fed free breakfasts every day by the Party under this program.

Survival programs: cont.  Other survival programs that existed were:  Free Clinics  Grocery Giveaways  The manufacture and distribution of free shoes  Senior transport and service programs,  Free busing to prisons and prisoner support and legal aid programs, among others.

Political activities  Fought for and obtained funds to build 300 new, replacement housing units for poor people displaced by a local freeway.  They entered into a working partnership with certain developers to build up the dilapidated downtown city center in order to provide 10,000 new jobs for Oakland ’ s poor and unemployed.

Political activities: cont.  At that same time, a permanent primary school was instituted, which was highly lauded by the California legislature, among others.  The Party briefly merged with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, headed by the fiery Stokely Carmichael.  In 1967, the party organized a march on the California state capitol to protest the state's attempt to outlaw carrying loaded weapons in public.  In order to prove a point, participants in the march carried rifles.

Demise of the panthers  The Panthers were no longer a progressive political organization calling for an end to a racist, class-based society, but thugs with the capacity to incite incredible damage.  While part of the organization was already participating in local government and social services, another group was in constant conflict with the police.  For some of the Party's supporters, the separation between political action, criminal activity, social services, access to power, and grass-roots identity became confusing and contradictory as the Panther's political momentum was bogged down in the criminal justice system.

Demise of the panthers: cont.  A significant split in the Black Panther Party occurred over disagreements within the Panther leadership about how to confront these challenges.  By the beginning of the 1980s, attacks on the party and internal degradation and divisions, caused the party to fall apart.  Many remaining Panthers were hunted down and killed in the following years, imprisoned on trumped charges, or forced to flee the United States.

Where are they now?  Black Panthers gathered for their 35 th Anniversary on April 18, 2002, which discussed preserving civil liberties, women in the struggle, police brutality, the prison industrial complex and a session led by Bobby Seale on “ grassroots organizing in a high-tech society. ”  Although the Black Panthers Party are no longer active, one of the six members Bobby Seale continues to speak on racism, abusive exploitation, and violence against women and children.

References  The Black Panther Party. Retrieved January 20, 2006 from  Burroughs, Todd Steven “Black Panthers Gather for 35 th Anniversary.” Crisis (The New) 109:12.  Columbia Encyclopedia “Black Panthers.”  Fraley, Todd and Elli Lester-Roushanzamir “Revolutionary Leader or Deviant Thug? A Comparative Analysis of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Daily Defender’s Reporting on the Death of Fred Hampton.” The Howard Journal of Communications 15:  Lothian, Kathy "Seizing the Time: Australian Aborigines and the Influence of the Black Panther Party, ” Journal of Black Studies 35:  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. “The Black Panther Party.” Retrieved February 27, 2006 from