The Black Panthers In The 1960's

806 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Views of malcolm x and martin luther king

The Black Panthers: Rebellion through self defense The 1960’s was an era of constant turmoil as a result of the fight for equal rights for all races, a fight led by the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. Even before they were both murdered, the mostly peaceful Civil Rights movement was gaining traction, but still actually gaining equal rights at a painfully slow pace. Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the Black Panther Party emerged as a revolutionary group who aimed to change not only the unfair government but the slow pace at which the Civil Rights Movement was progressing. In the late 1960’s and the 1970’s, The Black Panther’s consistently stood up for their beliefs on Civil Rights and were successful in changing it into …show more content…

They based themselves off their Ten Point Program, which was basically their own Bill of Rights. The Ten Point Program said that they wanted freedom and power, equal employment opportunities, repayment of the land capitalism robbed them of, better housing and education, free healthcare, end of police brutality and wars f aggression, re-trial for all black inmates, and they wanted the same opportunities to the rights stated in the Bill of Rights as white people. Although many of their goals stated in the Ten Points Program is similar to those of their predecessors and the opinions of King and Kennedy and others, the way they approached the reaching of these goals was quite different and went completely against the common public opinion. Not only were they civil rights fighters going up against a lot of the public, but they felt it should be done in a manner in which violence was acceptable and even necessary, which was a complete 180 from the social expectation. The Black Panthers felt that the only way to stop the huge amount of police brutality was to fight back with brutality of their own. In “The Black Panther” (Volume II no.5), a newspaper published by the Party as a way of spreading their message, Frank B. Jones writes that “Force is an effective means of resisting violent people” (2). They stuck to their word and on countless occasions used this philosophy against

Show More
Related

  • Black Panther Party

    2267 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Party’s fight for redistribution of wealth and the establishment of social, political and social equality across gender and color barriers made it one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for working class liberation and ethnic minorities (Baggins, Brian). The Black Panther Party set up a ten-point program much like Malcolm X’s Nation of Islam that called for American society to realize political, economic and social equal opportunity based on the principles of socialism, all of which was summarized by the final point: "We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace" (Newton, Huey P). The Black Panther Party wanted to achieve these goals through militant force. In the words of Che Guevara, “Words are beautiful, but action is supre...

    Read More

  • Demise of the Second Reconstruction

    2219 Words  | 5 Pages

    This political shift materialized with the advent of the Southern Strategy, in which Democratic president Lyndon Johnson’s support of Civil Rights harmed his political power in the South, Nixon and the Republican Party picked up on these formerly blue states and promoted conservative politics in order to gain a larger voter representation. Nixon was elected in a year drenched in social and political unrest as race riots occurred in 118 U.S. cities in the aftermath of Martin Luther King’s murder, as well as overall American bitterness due to the assassination of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and the extensive student-led activist opposition to the Vietnam War. The late 1960’s also saw the advent of several movements promoting Black Nationalism to unify the African-American community through the efforts of Black Power, most notably the formation of the Black Panthers in 1967 who were dedicated to overseeing the protection of African-Americans against police brutality and the support of disadvantaged street children through their Free Breakfast for Children program. During this time, black power was politically reflected through the electorate as the 1960-70’s saw a rise in Black elected officials. In 1969 there were a total of 994 black men and 131 black women in office in the country, this figure more than tripled by 1975 when there were 2969 black men and 530 black women acting in office; more than half of these elected officials were acting in Southern States....

    Read More

  • Black Panther Party Analysis

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Living for the City, Donna Murch details the origins and the rise to prominence the Black Panther Party experienced during the 1960s and into the 1970s. The Civil Rights Movement and eventually the Black Panther Movement of Oakland, California emerged from the growing population of migrating Southern African Americans who carried with them the traditional strength and resolve of the church community and family values. Though the area was heavily driven by the massive movement of industrialization during World War II, the end of the war left a period of economic collapse and social chaos in its wake. The Black Panther Party was formed in this wake; driven by continuing violence against the African American youth by the local police forces, the Black Panther Party’s roots consisted mostly of educational meetings of local African American college students.

    Read More

  • Is violence the answer? the black panther party

    1716 Words  | 4 Pages

    Organized in the 1960s at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party emerged as a revolutionist group pioneering a strategy of militancy. The Party’s aims were to eliminate the discrimination challenging African-Americans in America since the time of slavery, and to protect their communities from police brutality. Inspired by contemporary radical leaders such as Malcolm X, the party recognized that in order to restructure American society so that civil equality was obtainable by all people, a much stronger opposition was necessary. Party members felt the passive resistance adopted by their predecessors fighting for equality proved futile, and therefore the Party endorsed new tactics of self-defense and violent resistance to secure their political and social rights as American citizens. However, the promotion and employment of open violence fueled the government with legitimate reason to battle for the Party’s eradication. Regardless of its success in instituting innovative community reforms in African-American neighborhoods, during its short existence the Black Panther Party was never able to achieve its fundamental goal of eliminating racial discrimination and ensuring civil equality for all when battling against an America averse to change.

    Read More

  • Differences Of The Niagara Movement And The Black Panthers

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Niagara Movement and The Black Panthers were both groups that fought for equality and civil rights for African Americans. Both groups believed that the United States government, social organizations, and other individuals were infringing the rights of African Americans. They wanted to ensure that African Americans ability to participate in the civil and political life of American society would be possible for all, without discrimination or suppression. Each group made a platform so they would have a set of guidelines for each group 's ideals and ways of operation. For the Black Panthers, it was the Ten Point Program, and for the Niagara Movement, it was the Declaration of Principles.

    Read More

  • Origins of Funk Music

    2188 Words  | 5 Pages

    After the death of Malcolm X the movement started to get funky. It seemed as though after the assinaition of Malcom X, the revolution’s focal point began to change. The movement began to head towards a more intense, and nitty gritty level. It seemed as though all the non-violent organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, as well as the Christian Leadership Conference had little hold on what was about to happen to the movement. The death of Malcolm X brought a new direction in the movement. In a society of a violent system it was hard for young blacks to take charge in an non-violent organization, it seemed to be a hypocrisy. And the idea of tolerance was wearing thin for the whole generation.

    Read More

  • How Did Malcolm X Impact The Civil Rights Movement

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    Different from MLK Jr.’s idea of equality stating a society where everyone was equal. X took a trip to Africa where he saw American Civil Rights Movement within a global struggle for everybody. Upon his return to the U.S. with the mindset of less mad and more open minded for a peaceful resolution to American Racism and could have totally changed the course of the Civil Rights Movement. A year after his death a group known as the Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton and was based on Malcolm X and his ideas for black nationalism and necessity of violence and armed self-defense in order to obtain freedom from white

    Read More

  • Political Party: The Black Panthers

    424 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Black Panthers, also known as the Black Panther Political Party or as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was formed in 1966. Started by blacks in California, they are a radicalised political party whose strive was for civil rights while seeking self-recognition and empowerment for blacks. This investigation is going to identify and evaluate the purpose and influence of said political party by analyzing the statement:

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Ella Baker: A Long Civil Rights Movement

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    Several years before Jacqueline Dowd Hall would publish her influential call for a “long civil rights movement,” Payne warns us that the lack of context of the traditional civil rights narrative makes it hard to understand why the Black freedom struggle entered such a forceful phase in the 1950s and 1960s. Without understanding the new self-consciousness among African Americans during the World War II-period, the strategizing over a double victory campaign that Richard Dalifume called attention to as early as 1968, we literally fail to understand the importance of grassroots self-empowerment and activism that created the need for a national leadership in the first place. However, we should also keep in mind that some of these long-established

    Read More

  • The Black Panther Party Summary

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tomi Lahren is someone who sets an example to many woman and young children, who want to be Barbie like and she has an amazing profession. Some people have the ability to look past her ignorance; I refuse to look past her erroneous comments. My mother always taught me to ask questions, because a dumb question is only a question that is not asked. Lahren has an abundance of dumb questions; obviously, she has not done any research or asked any questions about the Black Lives Matter movement and the Black Panther Party. There has to be some line drawn, where we prevent people like Lahren from white washing our history. Lahren, who no one has heard of before earned her platform by spreading incorrect facts about our people, and we allowed her

    Read More

  • The Black Panther Party: A Comparative Analysis

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Panthers referred to the US Organization as the United slaves as a reference to the name shows how disgruntled the relationship they had, the US Organization actually stands for black people the pronounced us as opposed to the white oppressors. The Panthers are heroic victims and the US Organization irredeemable villains escaping each encounter unharmed the fact is that us suffered in this tragic conflict which was intensified by police provocation and violence participation. The Black Panther Party's core practice was its armed citizens' patrols to monitor the behavior of police officers and challenge police brutality. They had a Ten-Point program that was divided into "What We Want" and "What We Believe.Huey said, "We need a program. We have to have a program for the people. A program that relates to the people. A program that the people can understand. A program that the people can read and see, and which expresses their desires and needs at the same time. It's got to relate to the philosophical meaning of where in the world we are going, but the philosophical meaning will also have to relate to something specific. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.We want full employment for our people.We want an end to the robbery by the

    Read More

  • Black Panther Document Analysis

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1966, a national political organization was founded by two black men named Huey New. This document was mainly about a set of ten different requisitions the Black Panther , mainly fighting for Self-defense, established . These ten points are requirements that the Organization believed was necessary for the black community to be treated as equal and fairly. In the document, Newton addresses that they need ten basic things such as freedom, “Power to determine the destiny of the black and oppressed communities”( Newton, 1966). He also claims that they need employment, decent living conditions starting with safe and decent housings, education, health care and son on. This document is crucially important because it shows that in the mid 60’s the Black community started to affirm their social rights and needs more and with firmness.

    Read More

  • The Hippie Movement In The 60's

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the 1960’s, the Civil Rights movement intensified. Protests and sit-ins were common and great African American leaders rose up. Some of these include Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., James Meredith, and Mohammed Ali. Malcom X advocated for violent protests and was associated with the Black Panthers (Piznarski). The Black Panthers were founded in 1966 and organized chapters throughout America. They wanted authority over poor black regions in the areas of schooling, welfare programs, and medical centers (“The Psychedelic 60’s”). Martin Luther King Jr. was the opposite. He wanted peaceful protests that were completely within the law, allowing the public to sympathize with the beaten and broken African Americans. James Meredith was the first black student that was integrated into a white southern college. This took a tremendous amount of courage on his part. On August 28, 1963, a record setting march on D.C. of 200,000 plus people converged in Washington. The march was organized by many civil rights leaders and ended in Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech, “I Have a Dream” (“March on

    Read More

  • The Black Panther Party's Ten Point Program Analysis

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    The readings for the week of April 12th were The Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program a primary source and and Robyn Spencer’s Merely One Link in the Worldwide Revolution. The Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program is a list of demands that ways of operations for the party. The second reading links the Black Freedom Struggle to international events such as the decolonization of African countries and the Cold War. Throughout the texts and our in-class discussion we see the themes of communism, internationalism, racial capitalism and the human rights, civil rights struggle and their relationship with the Black Freedom Movement.

    Read More

  • Black Panther Sociology

    1722 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Black Panther was founded in October 1966 by Bobby Scale and Huey Newton. The party was formed in Oakland, California with the intentions of providing African Americans with protection against police brutality. However, the group quickly grew into a Marxist assembly. Their movement was concerned with issues such as exploitation that African Americans underwent following Jim Crow. They called for the release of all the African Americans incarcerated individuals and to be exempted from all sanctions. The organization reached its peak in the 1960s with a membership of over 2000 people. It was also operational in most the major cities across the United States like Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago. It also followed a very militant style

    Read More

More about The Black Panthers In The 1960's

Open Document