The Black Panthers, a black activist organization formed in 1966, called for an armed revolution against racial inequality. They also addressed poverty in black communities with free breakfast programs. The party faced law enforcement campaigns and internal leadership struggles, leading to its decline by the late 1970s.
In the years following the end of slavery in America, a number of black political organizations were formed. Some have promoted the idea of the return of black Americans to their African lands. Others, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), have favored mainstreaming and equal rights legislation. During the 1960s, however, an organization of black activists called the Black Panthers openly called for an armed revolution against the oppressive white culture they held responsible for perpetuating racial inequality.
In the early 1960s, a voter rights group in Alabama called the Lowndes County Freedom Organization used black panthers as a symbol of black empowerment. The group eventually disbanded, but not before influencing a young black Louisiana native named Huey P. Newton. Later, while living in Oakland, California, Newton decided to form his own black activist organization with the help of several friends, including BobSeale and David Hilliard. In 1966, the first meeting of the Black Panthers Party for Self Defense was held in Oakland, California.
Unlike nonviolent civil rights organizations led by men like Martin Luther King, Jr., this party decided that the only way for the black community to gain respect and political power was to take aggressive action. One popular target was the federal government, whose archaic racial equality laws allowed secret white power societies like the Ku Klux Klan to thrive. The assassination of black activist Malcolm X was also a catalyst for the group’s calls to action.
However, the activities of the Black Panthers were not limited to political rallies and rallies. The social wing of the party attempted to address many of the problems faced by impoverished black communities. One program designed to gain support from disenfranchised black citizens was a free breakfast program. Party members prepared and distributed free breakfasts for poor families living in housing projects or ghettos. The popularity of these free programs is said to have prompted the federal government to sponsor free school breakfast programs across the country.
The party leadership found itself in the crosshairs of a relentless law enforcement campaign against “subversive organizations”. In 1967, BobSeale and others entered the chambers of the California legislature armed with handguns in an attempt to protest a proposed gun control bill. Huey Newton was charged with the shooting of a white Oakland police officer later that year, although the circumstances of the event were unclear. He became an underground cult hero, with young war protesters demanding his release.
With the Black Panthers’ senior leadership in disarray, individual chapters of the party became much easier to break up. Law enforcement officers have managed to infiltrate and dissolve many of the key chapters in California, New York City and elsewhere. Seale was accused, along with seven other peace activists, of conspiring to create a riot during the 1968 Democratic Party convention in Chicago. David Hilliard was accused of assaulting police officers during a gunfight in 1968. Huey Newton was granted a second trial and eventually released in 1970, but his freedom was short-lived.
In 1973, the leadership of the Black Panthers was in prison, exiled to other countries or under surveillance. BobSeale, Eldridge Cleaver and David Hilliard were all ousted from leadership roles. In 1974, Huey Newton left the United States for Cuba. He would eventually return to the United States, but by the late 1970s the group had become just a shell of what it used to be.
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