The Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s in the United States consisted of two distinct forms of combating social oppression of African-Americans. Commonly known is the non-violent stance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The contributions of King’s March on Washington protest in Birmingham and Selma are widely studied and annually reviewed. The second stance of combating racial discrimination is less widely studied and hardly available through internet resources. This second stance was a militant resistance to oppression led by the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.
The scant media attention paid to the Black Panther Party delivers less than comprehensive understanding of the party’s purpose and contributions to the United States of America. Trying to find information for this article was challenging due to the dearth of information made available. In attempts to reflect on any accounts of the Black Panther Party, I remembered Tom Hank’s “Forrest Gump”. This movie shows a short clip of a Black Panther Party in Washington D.C. The scene shows militant blacks in sunglasses, leather jackets, pointing big guns with big attitudes. However, there is much more to the Black Panther Party for Self Defense than this incomplete representation of perhaps the most influential group of blacks in the 60’s.
In October of 1966, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. The black panther was used as a symbol because it produces a powerful image and also to tie it to the Lowndes Country (Alabama) Freedom Organization founded by Stokely Carmichael. Self defense was included in the title such that the movement would be readily distinguished by other non-violent groups. The movement was greatly influenced by the ideas of Malcom X and included an agenda for “real economic, social, and political equality” across gender and color lines. This organization worked with other minority and white revolutionary groups.
On April 25, 1967, the first edition of The Black Panther was published. In October of 1967, Huey Newton was arrested which gave birth to the “Free Huey” campaign which only solidified this group to a common cause. In attempts by California legislation to ban the carrying of loaded weapons, Huey Newton along with other Panthers radically opposed this idea.
Although King’s non-violent approach was effective in specific areas of the country and with specific groups, it must have been ineffective in other areas as there was a distinguishing shift between non-violent and militant based leaders. Stokely Carmichael was once the leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). However, in February of 1968, Carmichael became the Prime Minster of the militant Black Panther Party. Carmichael expressed marked issue with the language of black men being referred to as “dialect” by his racial counterparts.
Beyond self-defense, unity within a community, and pride, the Black Panther Party effectuated positive contributions to society at their time. In January of 1969, the first free breakfast program was hosted at St. Augustine Church in Oakland, CA. Interestingly, this event was hosted in a church suggests that despite its militant nature, the Black Panthers were not an evil, diabolical, or physical threat to those not imposing the same on them. The Ten Point Program of the panthers itemizes strict guidelines of morality and engagement of all panther members which explicitly forbids violence or immoral acts. By the close of 1969, more than 10,000 children were daily fed breakfast by kitchens established nationwide by the Black Panther Party. Fred Hampton was a leading member in Chicago that initiated five breakfast programs, a free medical center, and door to door health care services for blacks in the community. Hampton also reached out to gangs within the community to encourage them to “clean up their acts”.
Because of the organization and influence of the movement, J. Edgar Hoover of the F.B.I. coined the Black Panther Party “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country”. As the organization began to influence the flare up of other groups to organize for change, the Black Panthers were deemed a threat. A series of brutal assassinations, including the shooting of Fred Hampton’s pregnant wife, chemical warfare, and forging letters to panther member Eldridge Cleaver abroad led to the disintegration and black listing of the movement. Former panthers were either killed, formed their own movements, or went abroad such as Assata Shakur still living in Cuba.
Please find more information about the Black Panther Party at http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/. And by visiting the Standford Center for Research on the Black Panther Party at http://www.stanford.edu/group/blackpanthers/. Information on the Black Panthers is very limited via the internet. Finding written documents and published books may be the most comprehensive source of information along with the websites provided above. A list of books on the Black Panther Party can be found at http://www.google.com/products?sourceid=ie7&q=Black+Panther+Party+and+books&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ACAW&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=0NNqS6DgAs-0tgedw7WUBg&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CEgQrQQwAg.
Other Posts by Eryn on Black History Month:
Black History’s Leading Literary Lady
The Black Panther Party For Self Defense
Intelligence of Interference? COINTELPRO and the Black Panther Party
“How they sold Marcus Garvey for rice”-LH
Yes you’re a woman…just a different kind
Vote to Discontinue Black History Month
Where’s my Forty Acres and a Mule
Too black to be white, too white to be black
I don’t date outside my species!
Eryn is a Bostonian native who currently resides in the Metro New York area. She completed her B.A. in Psychology from St. John’s University where she also studied Mandarin, Chinese. Eryn has conducted psycho-social, medical, and environmental research. When she’s off the clock, Eryn spends time learning about world cultures, languages, and the best restaurants in town. She is currently working on her first novel A Beautiful Autymn. You can find more of Eryn’s work ranging from free-writes, poetry, and social analysis at http://autymn.wordpress.com
[...] 4-http://cchronicle.com/2010/02/the-black-panther-party-for-self-defense/ Share and [...]
Insightful?:
0 
0
[...] Garvey was the twinkle in the eye of future investigations into black leaders by federal agencies. J. Edgar Hoover was the special assistant of the Attorney General of the BOI. Hoover, who was the same culprit in [...]
Insightful?:
0 
0
Another extremely interesting article. I was born in Texas in 1956 and grew up in two different cities with two completely different vibes. In Houston, the only black people I was around was the lady who cleaned our house twice a week. In the summer of 1967, we moved to a much smaller town, Tyler, TX. Here, I attended a small, country school where the ratio was 60% white and 40% black. I am proud to say from the time I was 11 years old, my friends were an even mix. I am a professional musician (guitarist) and most of my early years was spent honing my craft with black musicians. Right now, I am the only white musician in the band I am in. I think all of the different movements for black people have had their place in history and just like anything else, there is going to be different approaches to the common problems and struggles. I knew many people who were members of the Black Panther organization and they were very cordial and sincere in what they believed.
Insightful?:
0 
0
[...] Garvey was the twinkle in the eye of future investigations into black leaders by federal agencies. J. Edgar Hoover was the special assistant of the Attorney General of the BOI. Hoover, who was the same culprit in [...]
Insightful?:
0 
0
[...] and his not having a negro dialect. As we can see from our previous studies during this series, Stokely Carmichael spoke about these unacceptable utterances of comparing the speech of blacks to “Negro [...]
Insightful?:
0 
0
[...] The Black Panther Party is unfortunately remembered as a violent group of militant blacks that ran drugs, perpetuated violence, and created political unrest in the country. Little to nothing is known and about their successful work in instituting medical centers and free breakfast programs for children across the country. The Black Panthers were indeed grassroots to the core. The article in the Wall Street Journal clarifies that Pete O’Neal, as head of the Kansas City, MO group of the Black Panther Party, was not violent. For Pete O’Neal “incendiary rhetoric was his weapon of choice”. Prominent in O’Neal’s story is Clarence Kelly. Kelly was once the chief of police in Kansas City when O’Neal was a Panther. Kelly then became the director of the FBI in the 1970’s. Kelly said that: “They (the Kansas City Panthers) made an awful lot of noise. But I don’t recall anything too forceful.” However, the interference of the FBI and the Black Panther Party led to the Panther’s bifurcation in 1972. The split left members of the party following Eldridge Cleaver who was then a political exile in Algeria or Huey P. Newton in the United States. After the split of the Black Panther Party, members who affiliated themselves with Cleaver became known as the Black Liberation Army. Remaining Panthers include Assata Shakur who is still in political exile in Cuba. [...]
Insightful?:
0 
0
i love them.Black Panthers is my heros cuz they got into so much trouble just to safe us black people……….and the pigs can just fucken die so can all thoses white people out there…………..FUCK YA’LL WHITE,NASTY,CUNTS,AND PIGS FOR HURTIING THE DAWM PANTHERS THEY DIDN’T DO SHIT TO YA’LL YOU PIGS
Insightful?:
0 
0
Great read
Insightful?:
0 
0