THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY

Fashioning Revolution

Milan Harper

Art 3410

Professor Lung

May 17, 2017

Towards the end of the civil rights movement black Americans are left feeling

frustrated leaders like Martin Luther King JR, Malcolm X and Bobby Kennedy are

assassinated, police brutality and violence in black communities are on the raise. Though

African Americans now have the right to vote they find themselves still facing

discrimination, especially in the judicial system. Black American’s are being imprisoned

at an alarming rate, poverty and unemployment are evident in black communities. In a

state of despair a younger generation of activist rise up and put non-violent tactics to side.

Following the words of Malcolm X they are fighting for the freedom of the black

American through self- defense “ by any means necessary” and demanded the

government be Revolutionized.

A year after the death of Malcolm X, The Black Panther Party is formed in

Oakland by Huey P Newton and Bobby Seale, the party believed heavily in self-defense.

Realizing “the non-violent campaign of Martin Luther King had failed” The Panthers set

out to educate Black people on their rights and give them the tools to fight against police

brutality and systemic racism. Huey and Bobby “preached of Revolutionary War” and

freedom of all oppressed people. They became their own form of military refusing to

fight in the war in Vietnam they focused their efforts on the Revolutionary War” in

America. The Black Panther Party took on a Military image it was apparent they were

solider like uniform; Black leather jackets, berets, and guns draped over their backs.

Their image was very important to their cause, as “ Huey emphasized the importance of

image and visibility.”

The most significantly political part of the Black Panther uniform was the black

beret. The word beret is a French term referring to a flat woolen cap, and originally worn

by peasants. In 1889 men of the French Chasseurs Alpins wore blue berets; which

became a symbol of mountain welfare. The Beret has since been used as a political,

revolutionary and fashion statement. In Spain during the second Carlist War; Tomas

Zumalacarregui “leader of the Carlists appeared wearing a red beret. The beret was then

used in Militaries across the globe, the USA adopted the beret in a green color and earned

the name “the green berets”. Berets were most likely used in the military because they

were very cheap to mass-produce.

During the 60’s, revolutionaries across the globe

adopted the beret, most famous Fidel Castro who wore a

black beret during the Batista government of Cuba. Che

Guevara; was a Argentine Marxist and a big figure of the

Cuban revolution. Photographer Alberto Korda took what

is considered one of the “worlds most famous

photographs” of Che Guevara at a memorial service

wearing his infamous black beret. Che wanted to overturn

the capitalist exploitation of Latin America by United States. The Black Panthers took a

cue from South American revolutionaries and assumed the black beret. Beyond just their

revolutionary uniform revolutionaries in South America and the Black Panther also

shared the political ideology of Marxism.

As political as the black beret; Panther party members male and female wore their

hair natural in Afros. Prior to the 60’s African American’s were mimicking hairstyles

worn by white society. Trying to keep up with Eurocentric beauty standards black women

CHE GUEVARA BY ALBERTO KORDA

would straighten their hair with chemicals or a hotcomb. The hot comb was invented by

Madame C.J Walker in the late 1890s, it success was due to need to assimilate to white

culture and beauty. "Hair straighteners suggest to blacks that only through changing

physical features will persons of African descent be afforded

class mobility within African American communities and

social acceptance by the dominant culture". It wasn’t’ just

black women vying for upward mobility by straightening

their hair, men also went to barbershops and had their hair

chemical pressed or cut short. In the 50’s during the Civil

rights movement appearance was a key tactic in fighting for

equality. The idea was to win over the middle white class by dressing and looking like

them, “mitigating any sense of otherness based on appearance”. This tactic of

assimilation was very controversial especially during the raise of black nationalism, many

activist faulted Dr King for wanting to be too much like “the white man”. As the Civil

rights movement gives way to the Black power movement respectability politics die out

as the new generation challenges mainstream values. America’s failure to accept

differences of their people is put on display with the emergence of the black power

movement lead by far less accommodating youth with their fist and afros held high,

affirming “Black Power!”.

Stockley Carmichael speech during the March Against Fear was the first popular

use of the term “Black Power”. During the Black power movement, Black Americans

began to seek out a sense of identity. Embracing their natural hair texture was the first

step in embracing their African roots and rebelling against the norm. Just as the hot comb

AfricanAmericanwomenwithstraighthair

became a success, Afro Sheen became a huge product in the black hair care market. Afro

Sheen’s creator George E Johnson, became the first African American owned company

to be listed on the American Stock Exchange. With the Afro becoming a popular

hairstyle, afro sheen’s products continued to grown so did their advertising; known for

their commercials that promoted “ the natural look” these commercials instilled black

pride and power in its viewers by depicting black people natural and full of pride.

“The natural” was of political

importance for the Black Panther Party,

founder’s Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale

“proclaimed the afro would replace the

suppressive crop”. The Black Panthers

affirmed black beauty as they “embraced and

celebrated non-Eurocentric beauty standards”

the afro became a trademark of the

revolution. The hairstyle became so closely

associated with The Black Panther Party that

many afro wearing African Americans were targeted by the police and FBI. Angela

Davis; a huge figure in the fight for black liberation was pictured on an issue of Time

Magazine, her iconic Afro and the header “ The Making of a fugitive” typed across the

front page of the magazine. Angela Davis believed FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover conspired

to put together the image of Time Magazine’s cover story of her. At this point the FBI

BlackPantherpartyfoundersHueyPNewtonandBobbySeale

had made Angela apart of their ten must wanted fugitives list, posters of Angela and her

Afro with the words “Wanted” circulated. Using these pictures of Angela was very

strategic, especially in drawing a clear line between afro and fugitive. Angela stated in

one of her books that her “unruly natural hairdo symbolized black militancy”.

Black militancy and liberation were considered America’s number one threat to

J. Edgar Hoover’s; head of the FBI. Hoover declared The Panther party enemy number

one in a time were America was at war with Vietnam . Hoover put together

COINTELPRO, “ a series of covert and often illegal projects conducted by the FBI.”

COINTELPRO “targeted groups deemed subversive” “including anti-Vietnam war

organizations, feminist, and the black power movement”. With targets on their backs,

many Black activist had to hide their identities and that meant ditching their afro’s for

wigs. Angela Davis recalls going underground and disguising herself with makeup and

long straight wigs. Typically seen bare-faced

and afro “ glamor was the only look that might

annul the likelihood of being perceived as a

Revolutionary”. The act of wearing your

natural hair out was one of pride and soon

became a revolutionary act that prompted harassment and oppression. Pictures of wanted

activist with afros were powerful structuring the image of a fugitive, Angela Davis

recounts hearing stories of black women who were “accosted, harassed, and arrested by

police, FBI, and immigration agents” just for wearing their hair natural. The Black

Panthers taught their early recruits how important the afro was in claiming their identity

as Black men and women, they also believed they had to protect and fight for their sense

of identity by any means necessary.

Originally named The Black Panther Party for Self Defense, famous for taking up

arms to fight against police brutality the panthers were not strangers to the second

amendment. They exploited the “right to bear arms” to their benefit by patrolling their

neighborhoods with rifles on their backs also know as “Copwatching”. Inspired by the

words of Malcolm X “ the time has come to fight back in self defense whenever and

wherever the black man is being unjustly and unlawfully attacked”. Members of the party

would come down to scenes were cops were arresting black citizens with their rifles to

make sure their rights weren’t being violated. Guns became the center of the Panther’s

identity, as they believed “the gun is the only thing that will free us-gain us our

liberation”.

Maintaining the safety of their communities was a top priority for the Panthers,

after a number of “traffic fatalities and injuries to school children” outside a

predominantly black elementary school due to a lack of traffic lights the Panthers took

matters into their own hands. Initially going to the Oakland city council and asking for

traffic lights in front of the school for the safety of the kids crossing the busy intersection,

they were told it would take over a year to have traffic lights installed. Armed Black

Panthers then blocked traffic and escorted school kids safety across the street before and

after school until the city council agreed to install the traffic light sooner.

The Californian government wasn’t too happy to hear that a group of black

militants were walking around with rifles strapped to their backs and intimidating police

officers. In response the Mulford Act was drafted in 1967, the Mulford Act was a

California bill that repealed the law allowing public carrying of loaded firearms. News of

the bill being bought to the Capitol enticed 30 Panther members to walk into the state

building with their guns as protest. While most of the party was inside the Capitol

building co-founder Bobby Seale was outside talking to the press his statements shed

light on the increasing

fear of the police in

black communities

and lack of

government

involvement in their

communities, “Black

people have begged,

prayed, petitioned,

demonstrated to get the racist power structure of America to right its wrongs”. The

disappointment felt by the black community after the civil rights movement weighed

heavy on the party. The act of taking up arms was to protect themselves and their

community from police brutality and violence. Black communities were not safe and

police presence did more to terrorize than to deescalate the ongoing crime in inner cities,

Seale goes on to say “ police agencies of American escalate the oppression of black

people throughout the ghettoes of America.” After Seale’s speech at the capitol those

who had been protesting inside were arrested on felony charges of “conspiracy to disrupt

a legislative session”. The Mulford bill was passed and signed by governor Ronald

Reagan, Regan who would go on to run for President as “a steadfast defender of the

Second amendment”. Regan was quoted saying “You won’t get gun control by disarming

the law abiding citizen… One way to get real gun control: disarm the thugs and the

criminals, lock them up”.

The attempt to shut down the tactics of the Black Panther Party wasn’t as

successful as the government had hoped. After Bobby Seale’s speech images of the

Panthers protest in the Capitol were on the front page of every major newspaper. The

powerful image of the Party and Bobby’s words compelled many across the US to join

the party. Panther chapters began to pop up all over the US and the Party was starting to

grow quickly.

The party had four major concerns within their community: Education, housing,

employment and Civil rights. To improve on theses four concerns they drafted a ten point

program of “What We Want Now!” detailed as follows.

1. We Want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of Black Community

2. We want full employment for our people

3. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black Community

4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings

5. We want education for our people the exposes the true nature of this decadent

American society. We want education that teaches us true history and our role in

the present day society.

6. We want all black men exempt from military service

7. We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of black

people

8. We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons

and jails

9. We want all black people when brought to trail to be tried in court by a jury of

their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by the

Constitution of the United States

10. We want land, bread, housing ,education, clothing

and justice and peace

With their ten-point plan as an outline the

Panthers began to build up their communities.

Though mostly known for their image as gun toting

revolutionaries who stirred up trouble for local police,

the panthers were very much involved in servicing

their communities. The panthers started a free

breakfast program, feeding hungry school kids every

morning before school, they focused on huger and poverty through this program.

Members went door to door letting parents know where their children can go for

breakfast, usually held in community churches the panthers cooked, and served over a

hundred kids a day in the city of Oakland. During the height of the party the Los

Angeles Chapter fed of 1,200 children a week and 300 children a week in their New

Orleans chapter. The breakfast program came out of the need for improvement of

education, the members believed black children would “grow and intellectually

develop because children cant learn on empty stomachs”. The Free Breakfast for

Children became such a success that it was mandatory for every chapter to adopt the

program. The Free Breakfast program was one of many programs developed by the

Panthers, co founder Huey Newton stated “these programs satisfied the deep needs of

the community”. Besides hungry children and poor performance amongst the youth in

school many black communities found themselves needing medical assistance but

faced medical discrimination.

African- Americans were not able to access affordable health care and some times

“subject to overt mistreatment: forced sterilization, being used as human test subjects

or having their cells removed for experimentation or sale”. Quality health care was

not found in many black communities many had to travel far distances for treatment.

Seeing the black community suffer with dieses such as hypertension, sickle cell,

ulcers and tuberculosis without treatment the panther opened free clinics and their

respected cities. Providing first-aid and basic services the panthers bought in

volunteer doctors and nurses to test for “high

blood pressure, lead poising, tuberculosis and

diabetes”. These Panther clinics also provide

physical exams, treatments for cold and flu and

cancer detection screenings. Allowing those in communities with little to no health

care the panthers gained attention of the government especially in their initiative to

find a cure for sickle cell, a dieses that plagued mostly people of color had gone

ignored by the government for years until the panthers offered screenings and focused

on finding a cure. It was then that the government allocated funding for the treatment

and cure of sickle cell. Previous to the Panther clinics medical care had been a huge

civil rights issue in communities of people of color stating “ of all inequality, injustice

in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane”. It is no doubt the Panther’s

programs helped serve and build trust amongst the party and their communities. The

support the Panthers received due to their programs and work in the communities

alarmed J. Edgar Hoover, it was clear in a memo he sent to all FBI offices that said

the party’s programs “ promoted at least tacit support for the Black Panther Party

among naïve individuals and what is more distressing, it provides the BPP with a

ready audiences composed of highly impressionable youth.” He then suggest the Free

Breakfast program was the most influential and best activity going for the Black

Panther party and “ as such, is potentially the great threat to efforts to neutralize the

BPP and destroy what it stands for”.

Along with Community programs the Panthers also had a newspaper that was

published weekly. The Party survived off of the sales of the Panther Newspaper, it

also helped spread their message across the country. Emory Douglas was the Minister

of Culture for the Black Panther Party, his artwork for the newspaper became a huge

hit and was featured in almost every publication of the Panther Paper. Emory’s work

represented the struggle of black people and also their willingness to fight. Emory

portrayed “the poor with genuine empathy, not as victims but as outraged,

unapologetic and ready for a fight”. Emory stated people responded to his artwork

because it was a reflection of them, he often

portrayed black Americans as the heroes in

his work. Many of his characters are pictures with teardrops,

which represents the pain black Americans go through.

Emory is well known for depicting police officers as pigs, it

was Huey Newton’s idea to have a pig head on a police

officer, Emory took this image and made it an iconic part of

the Panther Paper. Art became a huge part of the party due to

the popularity of the Paper and Emory’s artwork. The Panthers protest banners and

signs were just as graphic as the Paper’s artwork.

During the active years of the Panther Party

many of its leaders were imprisoned or killed. In response to the many wrongful

convictions and murders members of the Black Panthers and supporters took to the

streets to protest. During a raid in New York 21 Panther members “were arrested and

charged with conspiracy to blow up The New York Botanical Garden, department

stores ect.” These charges were false and came out through informants the FBI had

placed within the Panther Party. Face 156 counts of “conspiracy” the 21 panther

members became known as “The Panther 21”. Protest took place in New York with

banners and signs demanding the freedom of “Panther 21” whose bail had been set at

100,000 for each member. The trial lasted 8 months;

the longest and most expensive in New York’s

history, it took the jury forty-five minutes to find The panther 21 not guilty. The

Panther 21 had became a evidence of wrongful indictments brought among Black

Panthers and the people coming together to protest and demand justice.

Just as “ The Panther 21” became a rallying cry for the Panthers and their

supporters “Free Huey” was chanted and spray painted on walls through out the US.

Before The Panther 21, Huey Newton was

charged with the killing of police officers John Frey and sent to prison for 2 to 32

years. Inside of prison Huey became a political and national icon, in his words “

everyday they kept me there I grew as a symbol of the brutalization of the poor and

black as well as a living reproach to society’s indifference to inequities of the legal

system.” Huey’s imprisonment lead to a rally being held in front of the Alameda

court house, attendees held up signs of Huey and banners with “Free Huey” painted

across them. These banners became an iconic part of the Party’s protest for the

freedom of political prisoners.

The Black Panther

Party was one of the most

influential revolutionary

EldridgeCleaverMinsterofCommunication

groups of the Civil Rights era. Their image and defense strategies attracted media

attention and admirers. The Party and its supporters grow rapidly for the first time

black American’s were fighting back through community building and education of

the law. The Panther’s knew the power of knowing your rights, they made themselves

well versed in the American constitution and judicial system ultimately using it as a

tool for freedom. Unfortunately the Panthers came to a devastating end, the party had

internal turmoil brewing from the freedom of Huey Newton. Once Huey was free he

wanted to put focus on the communal programs like Free Breakfast and health clincs

in black and brown communities. Eldridge Cleaver Minister of communication

wanted to take a more aggressive approach and continue to fight back against racial

injustice by challenging police officers. The party broke into 2 factions Huey

supporters and Eldridge supporters. The most devastating blow to the Panthers came

by the interference by the FBI to infiltrate and break up the Panthers by causing

internal conflict. “These agents fabricated information when arresting members and

when trials were held” the bureau used “fraud and force to sabotage constitutionally-

protected political activity.” The COINTELPRO operation ran by the FBI destroyed

the Panthers “a string of arrest murders and forced exiles.” The Party dissolved in

1982, considering themselves “The Vanguards of the revolution” it is no doubt they

used new ideas and tools to achieve black liberation. 50 years later the Image of the

Panthers is a powerful one, young black men and women armed with rifles wearing

black berets and leather jackets insights ideas on revolution. Their programs inspired

our government to take action as the adopted the Free Breakfast program in schools

across America. It is no doubt the Panthers changed the face of the Civil Rights

Movement and turned it into a Revolution.

Works cited

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"The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 17 May 2017. Joseph, Peniel. "Black Humanity and Black Power." Boston Review, (2017): 90.