Angela Davis The Black Panthers Essay

The early 1960’s were a time of protest and change. With the many civil rights legislations being put into place, it seemed as though America was finally making strides towards racial equality. However, these legislations weren’t as impactful as many had hoped. African-Americans across the nation continued to face racial and economic injustice. Poverty, unemployment, and police brutality were rampant in black American communities. Many African-Americans became frustrated with this lack of progress and began to adopt more radical ideologies. It was during this period that the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was formed (Duncan). Their defiant stance against racism frightened Americans across the nation. To this day, many Americans

In a documentary called “The Black Power Mixtape”, key leaders of this movement, such as Angela Davis, explain the harsh reality of this era and voice the frustrations with the status quo that the Black Panthers desperately wanted to change. In an interview, Angela Davis describes her experiences with racism and violence. She recounts growing up in Birmingham, Alabama as a child. She depicts her hometown as something like a warzone. Bull Connor, the Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham, would incite racist violence against African-Americans. She remembers her father having to arm himself at all times to protect his family against racist attacks. She would hear the sounds of bombs exploding across her street as a child. Several of her friends were victims of this racist violence. The daughter of a family friend of Angela’s was a victim of the Birmingham Church Bombing of 1963. Angela recalled that when her mother and family friend went to the site of the bombing, they found the children’s body parts scattered across the church. As a result, men in their community began to organize themselves into an armed patrol to prevent this from happening again. Angela later said “When someone asks me about violence, I just find it incredible. What it means is that the person asking that question has no idea what black people have experienced in this country since the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of