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Seminararbeit
Geschichte / Historik

Gregor-Mendel-Gymnasium Amberg

8 Punkte (Note 3), 2012

Theo B. ©
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The Black Panther Party and its Role in the Civil Rights Movement


1. Introduction


Today, African-Americans can become whatever they want, including President of the United States of America. But it was not always like this. The African-Americans fought their way from slavery to presidency, containing the Civil Rights Movement in which they rose up and began to fight for their rights as human beings.

During this time, multiple organizations were founded, but one stood out through enormous toughness, courage and activism but also ruthlessness - the Black Panther Party. This complexity is one of the reasons why I decided to analyze and describe this rebellious organization. I will focus on the rise and decline of the Black Panther Party and analyze who and what defined them, what they achieved and what caused the downfall.


2. Rise of the Black Panther Party


This is a summary about the Black Panther Party's upsurge and what they represented.


2.1. Origins


First of all, an overview about the revolutionary context of that time and information about the first steps of the Black Panther Party.


2.1.1 Background


Since the beginning of the twentieth century, four eras of African-American political action came into existence.

The first one from 1900 to 1920, contains the period when some of the major black organizations were founded, including the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). With their help, African Americans started to improve their lives and began to fight against segregation and discrimination. They were led by personalities like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, to name only some of them.

The second one from 1920 to 1950, was focused on overturning the racial segregation.

The Jim Crow Laws, which ordered the segregation were repealed step by step. As a consequence the segregation in education became illegal and it also was easier for African-American migrants to find jobs.

The third one from 1950 to 1960, in which demonstrations and marches happened more often than ever before in African-American history, took the Civil Rights Movement to a new level of intensity and mass action. People got attacked by police dogs, brutally beaten by the police and blasted with high-pressure hoses. Soon the whole country was demanding changes.

The fourth one started in the 1960's, in which the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voter Rights Act in 1965 made segregation and disenfranchisement of African-Americans illegal. It was the time when many other problems appeared. The African-Americans began to search a solution for the problems of their basic living conditions, including jobs, housing, education, criminal justice and health.

Many young African-Americans did not believe that the traditional organizations used the right tactics to bring a fundamental change to their communities. As a result new organizations were founded - and one of these was the Black Panther Party.1


2.1.2 Foundation


October 15, 1966 - Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the, how they called it, Black Panther Party of Self-Defense. The name was later reduced to Black Panther Party and marked the beginning of a new era.2 The black panther3 was used as their symbol because it was a very powerful and impressive image and showed the organization's attitude.4

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The Emblem of the Black Panther Party³

ut unlike many people probably think, they did not just start as a group of young people who tried to fight with guns and violence against the police brutality and murder. In their neighborhood patrols they were also armed with law books and intended to explain the African-Americans their basic constitutional rights.5


2.1.3 Founders


The aforementioned founders Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 to August 22, 1989) and Robert George Seale (October 22, 1936) both grew up in Oakland, California. Newton spent his childhood in poverty but he never complained about his life. Later at the Merritt College, he became interested in politics and started to read the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Mao Zedong and Che Guevara.

During this time he met Bobby Seale, who also grew up in bad living conditions and later went to Merritt College, too. Both joined the Afro-American Association where they met each other. Inspired by Malcolm X's works and ready for action they decided to create the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense.6

Newton and Seale had a very eventful life in the Party, they wrote multiple articles and books, invented social programs and made significant contributions for a role change in African-American history.

But not everything in their lives was that admirable. In 1967, Newton got arrested for murdering the police officer John Frey, but he was released from prison after two years.

In 1974, Newton murdered the prostitute Kathleen Smith and later assaulted Preston Callins. Scared of being imprisoned, he escaped to Cuba and stayed there for three years until 1977.

A

Huey P. Newton7

fterwards Newton started drinking alcohol excessively and became addicted to crack and cocaine. On August 22, 1989,7Huey P. Newton got murdered by the drug dealer Tyrone Robinson in the 9th street in West Oakland.8

Robert "Bobby" Seale's life in the party was not as dramatic as Huey P. Newton's. He got arrested for four years because he disturbed the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

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Bobby Seale9

wo years after his release from prison in 1974, Seale and Newton got in conflict because of a movie production about the Black Panther Party which was initiated by Newton who also ended this discussion violently. This incident caused Seale to leave the Black Panther Party and end his membership.9

2.1.4 Ideology

At its beginning the Party was focused on Black Nationalism and self defense, affirmed by the brutal and avoidable death of the seventeen year old member Bobby Hutton, who got shot by the police more than a dozen times, although he confronted them unarmed.11

Nevertheless the Black Panther Party became more and more influenced by Marxism, Leninism and Maoism. All Party members had to advance their knowledge of people's struggle and the revolutionary process by reading the Little Red Book, which is Mao Zedong's most famous and widespread work.12


2.1.5 The Ten-Point Program "What We Want - What We Believe"


After Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party, they prepared the ten-point program between October 1 and October 15, 1966. The bigger part of the program was written by Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale mostly made suggestions. The program was divided into "What We Want" and "What We Believe". 13

I

The Ten-Point Program14

t is about the African-American's constitutional rights and self-evident parts of basic living which did not exist in the majority of cases.14Starting with the demand for freedom, full employment and the ending of depletion by the white man, it is basically about giving the Afro-Americans a chance for a normal and secured life with the chance to get a home, education, acceptable living conditions and a life without discrimination and social disadvantages.15


The life in the Black Panther Party was strictly regulated to avoid chaos and arbitrariness.


2.2.1 Rules


The Black Panther Party had twenty-six rules which regulated the daily life in the Party and helped to keep discipline and order. They always tried to be a serious organization and therefore every member of the Party had to know these rules by heart and had to report any violations of these rules to his leadership. Violations of these rules were avenged with suspension and other disciplinary actions.16


2.2.2 Points of Attention


There also existed eight so called Points of Attention which were used as a guideline for all party members. They requested the Party members to be polite in every part of their daily life and they should also help to keep a good atmosphere inside the party.17




The three Main Rules of Discipline were - as the name implies - the most important rules and had to be observed in every case. Violations were avenged very consequently and without hesitation.18


2.3 Women in the Black Panther Party


Even though mostly male Panthers stood in the spotlight, also female Panthers played an important role in the Party's history.19


Female Panthers19


2.3.1 Early Philosophy


In the early years of the Black Panther Party, the typical role of a woman in the Party contained to stand behind and beside the men and to help and support them in their concerted fight for liberation. They were subordinated to men in every area except rearing children.

In addition, it seemed to be indecent for women to show male behavior and some of the male party members, especially Muslims, demanded sexual segregation.20


2.3.2 Change in Roles


In spite of all obstacles, women became more and more important in the Black Panther Party. They were mostly influenced by the words of Malcolm X who told the African-Americans to overcome the female subordination and inspired by their ideological role models in Vietnam, Cuba and China who also "advocated complete equality for women"21.

Gradually they discovered that women were as good leaders as men and that it was no shame to be under women's leadership.22

So after a while Ericka Huggins became the first woman in the Black Panther Party to lead a party chapter. Following her example, more and more women were integrated in the Party's leadership and became essential for the Black Panther Party.23




Naturally there existed relationships between male and female members in the Black Panther Party, including traditional marriages and so called Panther Weddings in which the couple exchanged revolutionary vows of commitment. But this meant by no way that a married couple had to live in sexual fidelity because polygamous relationships were absolutely common in the Party.

As a consequence of continuous polygamy and the abuse of power, jealousy, anger, fear and frustration appeared and provoked several social problems in the Party's community.24


2.4 The Black Panther


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The Black Panther 25

he Party's official newspaper, The Black Panther, included the social programs, obituaries from murdered and assassinated party members25or important personalities and more information concerning the Afro-American community.26 It circulated first in 1967 and cost twenty-five cents.27 The Black Panther's slogan was "circulate to educate".28


The Black Panther Party, especially Huey P. Newton, recognized early that if they wanted to bring the African-Americans to a "level of consciousness"29 where they would be able to take the chance for a better living, it would be necessary to support them with developing programs to help them meeting their daily requirements. 30

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The Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program31

he Black Panther Party realized twenty-three so called Survival Programs which covered a large part of the people's problems of daily live.31 The Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program was the Black Panther Party's first and most famous program. It laid the foundation for school breakfast programs that still exist today.32

I

The Intercommunal Youth Institute33

t has to be emphasized that the Black Panther Party never took money for their programs, all of them were for free and should have helped to satisfy the deep needs of the African-American community.35

3. Decline of the Black Panther Party


Ever since its existence, countless obstacles were placed in the way of the Black Panther Party which finally resulted in the Party's retirement.


3.1 COINTELPRO


The Black Panther Party was targeted by the FBI like no other revolutionary organization before.


3.1.1 The Program


COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) was established on August 28, 1956 by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and its director J. Edgar Hoover to disable domestic and disruptive political organizations.36 The target spectrum included communist, socialist and black nationalist groups but also the Ku Klux Klan, the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and basically the Black Panther Party.37

The first step involved the Infiltration of the organization with agents and informers who tried to spy, discredit and disrupt.

The next stage contained Psychological Warfare from the Outside and a media offensive where false stories and publications about the targeted group were planted and published. They also faked correspondence, sent anonymous letters, and made anonymous telephone calls.

Another policy was Harassment Through the Legal System in which the FBI abused as already mentioned, the legal system "to harass dissidents and make them appear to be criminals"39. They also arranged false arrests, wrongful imprisonments and silenced supporters with government regulations.


3.1.2 Focus on the Party


In contrast to other organizations, the Black Panther Party was attacked by the FBI with all four main methods of COINTELPRO. J. Edgar Hoovers called the Party "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country"41. So finally 233 out of 295 counterintelligence operations were focused on the Black Panther Party.42 The members and supporters got punished, manipulated and beaten up brutally.43 Important personalities and leaders were imprisoned and assassinated mercilessly.

From 1968 to 1971, twenty-nine Panthers were assassinated by the FBI.44

Caused by the COINTELPRO operations, the Black Panther Party lost supporters, capabilities, influence and important members. They tried to continue and keep the party alive but never recovered all these losses.45





3.2 Reconstruction


From 1974 until 1977, while Huey P. Newton was in Cuba, several party members tried to recover the Black Panther Party from the massive attacks by the FBI and especially female members became very active in this time. The chairmanship was assumed by Elaine Brown who led the Party in Newton's absence. Furthermore Ericka Huggins, director of the Black Panther Party's Community Learning Center, and Audrea Jones ran for antipoverty offices in Chicago and the Party began to work together with mainstream political organizations.46


3.3 Disbanding


Just at the time when it seemed that the Party could revive, Huey P. Newton returned from his exile in Cuba. He began to take control over the Party directly and caused negative publicity all the time. As a consequence, Elaine Brown and other embarrassed and demoralized members resigned from the Black Panther Party.47 In 1980 the Party was reduced to twenty-seven members, so it was physically and emotionally impossible to be completely dedicated and focused on the daily Party work and the community support.


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