FREE ESSAY ON BLACK PANTHERS

BLACK PANTHERS

The 1960's ushered in a period of massive activism, both political and social. Many single
interest groups rose to the forefront of American media and became household names. These
groups made great changes in American thought and society, some even made changes around
the world. Of the latter, the Black Panther Party is one of the most intriguing. The
Black Panther Party rose to prominence almost immediately after its formation, and within
a few years spread around the globe.
Huey P. Newton, along with Bobby Seale, co-founded the party in October 1966. Similarity
of background brought about a large degree of cohesiveness in the party, and originally
brought Newton and Seale together. Huey P. Newton, born in 1942 in Louisiana, moved with
his family to California in 1945. He grew up in the ghettoes and lived a life similar to
the other black youths in ghettoes around the country. Rarely was he given a chance to do
skilled labor. By the time he attended Merritt College, he had a reputation as a tuff
guy. According to Marine, One thing that distinguished Newton from other tuffs, though,
was his ability to articulate ideas, organize, and get things done. 
Bobby Seale also grew up in poverty. As a young man he joined the Air Force, where he
received important arms and tactical training. Seale was later court-martialed and found
himself unable to hold a job. This background created a hostility and aggressiveness that
helped to shape his ideals and character. It was later while attending Merritt College
that Seale met Newton.
While attending Merritt College, Newton and Seale studied the great revolutionaries such
as Marx, Fanon, Lenin, and Malcolm X. It was here that they formed the political and
social philosophies that would later shape the Black Panther Party. 
In October 1966, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale developed the Black Panther Party.
Together they drew up a ten-point program entitled 'What We Want.' They also put together
26 rules governing the behavior of members. A unified membership was also very important
to the success of the Panthers. Keeping this in mind, consideration of recruits would
follow certain guidelines. According to Seale, Newton wanted brothers off the block-
brothers who had been pimping, brothers who had been peddling dope, brothers who ain't
gonna take no *censored*, brothers who had been fighting the pigs. 
The party was quick to begin activities, and in December 1966, proclaims Calloway, the
Black Panthers aroused excitement in Oakland, California by 'picking up the gun' and
patrolling the police. They attempted to explain (persuade) to anyone who would listen
that legal patrols of police (the following of police in the ghettoes by armed black
panthers) was a first step in improving the condition of black life. The firearms they
carried were legal, and people were beginning to take notice. As a result, a bill was
introduced in early 1967, just a few months after the parties' conception, to the
California State Legislature to ban the carrying of loaded firearms. This was a direct
attack on the activities and rapidly growing influence of the Panthers. In response to
debate on this bill, Newton issued the famous Executive Mandate Number One, in which he
noted that  black people have begged, prayed, petitioned and demonstrated, among other
things, to get the racist power structure to right the wrongs which have historically
been perpetrated against Black people... and in response to the vicious police dogs,
cattle prods, and increased patrols [that] have become familiar sights in black
communities... and convinced that city hall turns a deaf ear to the pleas of Black
people, Newton vowed that the time has come for Black to arm themselves against this
terror before it is too late. 
Bobby Seale, along with twenty-nine armed Panthers, marched to Sacramento, the capitol of
California, to deliver this mandate from the steps of the capitol building. All thirty
members were arrested. The delivery of the address, and the subsequent arrest, catapulted
the Panthers into the spotlight of the national mass media.
Suddenly, the Black Panthers had become a household name. Local groups sprang up across
the nation. Tension was escalating between the Panthers and the authorities. On October
28, 1967, one year after the party was founded, a shootout occurred between the Panthers
and the police. One officer was killed and Newton was wounded. Newton's arrest on murder
charges gave the Panthers a rallying cry, and status and visibility nationwide. 
Eldridge Cleaver, the Panther Minister of Information, fled to Cuba, then to Algiers to
escape charges stemming from the shootout. It was here that he developed the Black
Panthers International Section. In the span of a couple of years, the Black Panthers were
an international organization. In the United States alone, there were over 2,000 members,
in 32 chapters in 15 states. Some chapters implemented community programs, such as the
Free Breakfast Program, Liberation schools, and Medical Clinics. 
Of the international chapters, some were militant, others were propaganda factories.
Many groups of activists rose to prominence in the 1960's. Many of these groups have made
profound and lasting impressions on the world. The Black Panthers gave the blacks of the
ghettoes a voice and hope, and the support and admiration of people around the globe. 
Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sources Cited
Primary Sources
Newton, Huey p. To Die for the People, (New York: Random House, 1972)
Seale, Bobby. Seize the Time: the Story of the Black Panther party and Huey P. Newton,
(New York: Random House, 1970)
Secondary Sources
Calloway, Carolyn, Group Cohesiveness in the Black Panther Party Journal of Black Studies
vol.18 no. 1 (1977) 55- 74
Jones, Charles, The Political Repression of the Black Panther Party 1966- 1971 The Case
of the Oakland Bay Area Journal of Black Studies, vol. 18 no. 4 (1988) 415- 434 
Marine, G., The Black Panthers (New York: New American Library, 1969)
Sandarg, Robert, Jean Genet and the Black Panther Party Journal of Black Studies, vol. 16
no. 3 (1986) 269- 282