The Black Panther Party is an African-American revolutionary organization which emerged from the 1960s. Campaigning for equal rights amongst African-Americans within the United States, The Black Panther Party, (originally entitled The Black Panther Party For Self-Defense), sought the termination of the centuries worth of oppression and inequality that continued to persist amongst African-Americans which included social, economic and political suppression. Founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, The Black Panther Party would not only play a key role in the Black Power element of the Civil Rights Movement, but because of its revolutionary stance and tactics that were not only opposed to but acted upon against the unjust system of government under which Blacks lived, the Black Panther Party would later be deemed by then Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover as the "greatest threat to the internal security of the United States" (Jones, 366).
In September of 1966 in Oakland, California, two young African-American Merritt Junior College students Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale met in one of many sessions located in the living room of Seale's off-campus residence. Seale states that due to meeting with Newton, "I think... the experience of things I'd seen in the black community, killings that I'd witnessed, black people killing each other - and my own experience, just living, trying to make it, trying to do things, came to the surface" (Seale, 10). During these sessions, Newton and Seale would read the literature of "...oppressed people and their struggles for liberation in other countries" (Newton, 17). These readings included the works of Frantz Fanon, Che Guevera, Chairman Mao Tse-tung, and Malcolm X. In reading...
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...ment (NAAVM) was founded in Los Angeles, California, in which eight original Black Panthers conducted primary decision making. The NAAVM formed an Eight Point Platform and Program, (modeling after the Black Panther Party's ten point program), published its own newspaper, and participated in free food giveaways.
The Black Panther Party made a great impact during the Black Power movement. An impact that not only touched the community, but also affected the United States government as well, causing the government to look upon them as the greatest threat to the country because of their revolutionary stance against the unjust and immoral structure of the social and political system of the United States towards the African-American community. As the late great freedom fighter Fred Hampton once stated, " You can kill a revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution!"
Wasserman, Steve. "Rage and Ruin: On the Black Panthers | The Nation." The Nation. N.p., 4 June 2013. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Power Struggle. Revolutionary Suicide: Controlling the Myth of Huey P. Newton. 17 Mar. 2004 .
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....
Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and others, were the founders of the Black Panther Party. The emphasis of the Black Panther Party and Black Party and Black Power Movement justified the use of violence in the accomplishment of black justice. They believed that African Americans had to fight back to achieve their goal of equality. Therefore, the Black Panther Party and part of the Black Power Movement have been wrongfully associated with violence and negativity. However, the Black Power movement stimulated thousands of African Americans to speak out against the wrongful treatment of whites towards African
Murch uses this to explain why the Party was successful in maintaining itself on the local level but often failed on the national level. One can not argue that the Black Panther Party wasn’t a socially driven movement, but Murch argues that the movement itself was driven by the social structures of the Bay Area African American community. Murch approaches the success of the Black Panther Party at an angle that examines how the Party’s positions and it’s course was driven by the public it was centered within. Murch details that the African American community of Oakland was deeply rooted in family values as well as social organizations, such as churches.
Nearly all of the problems the Black Panther Party attacked are the direct descendants of the system which enslaved Blacks for hundreds of years. Although they were given freedom roughly one hundred years before the arrival of the Party, Blacks remain victims of White racism in much the same way. They are still the target of White violence, regulated to indecent housing, remain highly uneducated and hold the lowest position of the economic ladder. The continuance of these problems has had a nearly catastrophic effect on Blacks and Black families. Brown remembers that she “had heard of Black men-men who were loving fathers and caring husbands and strong protectors.. but had not known any” until she was grown (105). The problems which disproportionatly affect Blacks were combatted by the Party in ways the White system had not. The Party “organized rallies around police brutality against Blacks, made speeches and circulated leaflets about every social and political issue affecting Black and poor people, locally, nationally, and internationally, organized support among Whites, opened a free clinic, started a busing-to prisons program which provided transport and expenses to Black families” (181). The Party’s goals were to strengthen Black communities through organization and education.
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October 1966, in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Armed with sincerity, the words of revolutionaries such as Mao Tse-Tung and Malcolm X, law books, and rifles, the Black Panther Party fed the hungry, protected the weak from racist police, and presented a Ten Point Platform and Program of Black political and social activism. Its "survival programs"-such as food giveaways, free health clinics and free breakfast programs for children-were popular fixtures in Black neighborhoods in the early 1970s, but for the white power structure and the vast majority of the white public, the Panthers represented only anti-government militancy; a view which engendered the wrath of the police and FBI and led to the murder of several Party members by law enforcement.
The Panthers had many accomplishments while they were around, these were some of them. The Panthers gave to the need many times. They did stuff like opened food shelters, health clinics, elementary schools, patrolled urban ghettos to stop police brutality, created offices to teach young black kids, and they said that they were going to start stressing services. The Panthers had many great people join them, but one man had made a huge accomplishment that will never be forgotten. In November of 68’ the Chicago chapter of The B.P.P. was founded by Fred Hampton, he was a strong leader. The accomplishment he had made was that...
"The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense knew what they wanted. They were young. They were black. They couldn't be ignored. Their ten-point platform was just the beginning of an unforgettable period in the history of this nation's civil rights movement. By 1967 the Black Panthers had established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Their ideas, their agenda, their fight for equality for African Americans, put these outspoken youth on the map of American politics." (Haskins) Almost 40 years ago, in 1966, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale led a revolution that was driven in response to the oppression of black people. They sought to change that. Today, thanks to their fight for civil rights, extreme risks, and development of social needs, people around the world can enjoy some of their modifications, such as free breakfast programs. The formation and movements of the Black Panther Party were directed by the F.B.I, who sought to bring every party member down; as well as their radical alliances, such as The Resistance, (which kindled the rebirth of the party during hard times), and the brave women who joined the party, such as Afeni Shakur, stood up for their rights in a time in which Americas looked down on women as less than equals helped their cause.
The Black Panther Party has politically impacted life for the black African American community overall, using their civil liberties and voice to stand up and protect their own people from police brutality is what started the Black Panther Party. The Majority of Blacks were impoverished, they lived in poor neighborhoods with increased crime and violence. Neither the government or any organizations did anything to help the African American people, many just did not care about how Africans Americans were being degraded and mistreated. They decided to change their community, take charge and fight back. The organization was created to try to gain and control their political power, and stop police brutality. The Black Panther Party made blacks more progressive in trying to be more equal and more willing to fight for justice. Their self-determination to come together and stand up for themselves, as one was a stepping-stone for blacks to fight for themselves and the good of their people, also to make sure blacks could be treated equal both socially and politically in society.
The history of race relations in America and Europe have been documented in many ways throughout the past 600 years. The stories are so horrific that people often use art portray their ideas. Most recently through the film, Black Panther, the audience is presented with a story that is reflective of the Black Panther Party, western colonialism, and a debate over the proper means of liberation. The motion picture takes place in a fictional, utopian, African country called Wakanda where there is a precious metal called vibranium. Vibranium has many powers that help heal injuries, fuel technology, and instills strength into everything it is woven into.
Harlem Race Riot of 1964 was one of the most violent riot of American history. The riots started on July 16, 1964 when an African American student James Powell was shot and killed by a white, off-duty Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan (Samuel). The riot lasted six days from July 16 to the night of July 22. The race riots “highlighted the racial injustice and growing civil unrest” in the country (Civil rights digital library).
The United States rests upon a foundation of freedom, where its citizens can enjoy many civil liberties as the result of decades of colonial struggles. However, African Americans did not achieve freedom concurrently with whites, revealing a contradiction within the “nation of liberty”. It has been stated that "For whites, freedom, no matter how defined, was a given, a birthright to be defended. For African Americans, it was an open-ended process, a transformation of every aspect of their lives and of the society and culture that had sustained slavery in the first place." African Americans gained freedom through the changing economic nature of slavery and historical events like the Haitian Revolution policies, whereas whites received freedom
The Black Panther Movement made a progressive contribution to the US and civil rights. In order for a person to understand what the Civil Rights movement was, they would need to understand what political movements were involved, that made a big impact on the Black Community. What was the Civil Rights movement? The Civil Rights movement lasted from the late 1960s and early 1970s. But, the Civil Rights was not born during that time. When Abraham Lincoln was President, he had signed an agreement named the Emancipation Proclamation. This Proclamation was addressed to emancipate all of the slaves that were written on paper. If they were to leave their job as a slave they would have had no where to go and no money, so they still worked for their previous slave owners to get paid and have a life of their own. Other than Abraham Lincoln, who practically saved the black race, there were many others who were involved in the civil rights. They themselves created their own movement inside the civil rights to help give the black community freedom of speech and to stop the government from what the black community thought was racist.
American Civil Rights Movement By Eric Eckhart The American Civil Rights movement was a movement in which African Americans were once slaves and over many generations fought in nonviolent means such as protests, sit-ins, boycotts, and many other forms of civil disobedience in order to receive equal rights as whites in society. The American civil rights movement never really had either a starting or a stopping date in history. However, these African American citizens had remarkable courage to never stop, until these un-just laws were changed and they received what they had been fighting for all along, their inalienable rights as human beings and to be equal to all other human beings. Up until this very day there are still racial issues where some people feel supreme over other people due to race.