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{
{{Infobox Historical American Political Party|
party name= Black Panther Party|
party logo= [[Image:Bpp logo.PNG|220px]]|
party articletitle= Black Panther Party |
active= 1966-c.1976|
ideology= [[Marxist]]-[[Maoism]]<br />[[Proletarian internationalism|Internationalism]]|
position= [[Far left]]|
international= None |
preceded by= None |
succeeded by= None |
colors = [[Black]]
}}
{{POV|date=January 2009}}

The '''Black Panther Party''' (originally the '''Black Panther Party for Self-Defense''') was an [[African-American]] organization established to promote [[Black Power]] and [[Right of self-defense|self-defense]] through acts of social agitation. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s.

Founded in [[Oakland, California]], by [[Huey P. Newton]] and [[Bobby Seale]] on October 15, 1966, the organization initially set forth a doctrine calling for the protection of [[African American neighborhood]]s from [[police brutality]], in the interest of African-American justice.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9015498/Black-Panther-Party |title=Black Panther Party |accessdate=2008-03-27 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica }}</ref> Its objectives and philosophy changed radically during the party's existence. While the organization's leaders passionately espoused [[Socialism|socialist]] doctrine, the Party's [[Black nationalism|black nationalist]] reputation attracted an ideologically diverse membership.<ref>Jessica Christina Harris. Revolutionary Black Nationalism: The Black Panther Party." Journal of Negro History, Vol. 85, No. 3 (Summer, 2000), pp. 162-174</ref> Ideological consensus within the party was difficult to achieve. Some members openly disagreed with the views of the leaders.

In 1967 the organization marched on the [[California State Capitol]] in [[Sacramento]] in protest of a ban on weapons. The official newspaper ''The Black Panther'' was also first circulated that year. By 1968, the party had expanded into many cities throughout the United States, including [[Chicago]], [[Los Angeles]], [[San Diego]], [[Denver]], [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]], [[New York City]], [[Boston]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Pittsburgh]], [[Seattle]], [[Washington, D.C.]], and [[Baltimore]]. That same year, membership reached 5,000, and their newspaper had grown to a circulation of 250,000.<ref name= "Black studies" >{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Black Studies |last=Asante |first=Molefi K. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2005 |publisher=Sage Publications Inc. |location= |isbn=076192762X |pages=135–137 }} </ref>

The group created a Ten-Point Program, a document that called for "Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice and Peace", as well as exemption from military service for African-American men, among other demands.<ref>{{cite web |last=Newton |first=Huey |title=The Ten-Point Program |work=War Against the Panthers |publisher=Marxist.org |date=1966-10-15 |url=http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/1966/10/15.htm |accessdate=2006-06-05 }}</ref> While firmly grounded in black nationalism and begun as an organization that accepted only African Americans as members, the party changed as it grew to national prominence and became an icon of the [[counterculture of the 1960s]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Da Costa |first=Francisco |authorlink=http://www.franciscodacosta.com |title=The Black Panther Party |url=http://www.franciscodacosta.com/articles/BPP.html |accessdate=2006-06-05 }}</ref> The Black Panthers ultimately condemned black nationalism as "black racism". They became more focused on [[socialism]] without racial exclusivity.<ref>{{cite book|first=Bobby|last=Seale|title=Seize the Time|publisher=Black Classic Press|edition=Reprint edition|month=September|year=1997|pages=23, 256, 383}}</ref> They instituted a variety of community programs to alleviate [[poverty]] and improve health among communities deemed most needful of aid. While the party retained its all-black membership, it recognized that different minority communities (those it deemed oppressed by the American government) needed to organize around their own set of issues and encouraged alliances with such organizations.

The group's political goals were often overshadowed by their confrontational and militant tactics, and by their suspicions of law enforcement agents.<ref>{{cite web |last=Westneat |first=Danny |title=Reunion of Black Panthers stirs memories of aggression, activism |publisher=The Seattle Times |date=2005-06-01 |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002270461_danny11.html |accessdate=2006-06-05 }}</ref>
After party membership started to decline during [[Huey Newton]]'s 1968 manslaughter trial, the Black Panther Party collapsed in the early 1970s. Writers such as Black Panther and [[socialist]] [[Angela Davis]] and American writer and political activist [[Ward Churchill]] have alleged that law enforcement officials went to great lengths to discredit and destroy the organization, including [[assassination]].<ref>''The Angela Y. Davis Reader'', p.11, "[P]olice, assisted by federal agents, had killed or assassinated over twenty black revolutionaries in the Black Panther Party." She cites on page 23 (citation # 26) [[Joanne Grant]], [[Ward Churchill]] and [[Jim Van der Wall]] (see below), and [[Clayborne Carson]]. (Davis, Angela Yves. ''The Angela Y. Davis Reader'' Blackwell Publishers (1998))</ref>

==Origins==
{{African American topics sidebar|right}}
In 1966, [[Huey P. Newton]] was released from jail. With his friend [[Bobby Seale]] from [[Oakland City College]], he joined a black power group called the [[Revolutionary Action Movement]] (RAM). RAM had a chapter in Oakland and followed the writings of [[Robert F. Williams]]. Originally from [[North Carolina]], Williams published a newsletter called ''The Crusader'' from China, where he fled to escape kidnapping charges.

The Oakland chapter consisted mainly of students, who were not interested in this extreme form of activism. Newton and Seale's attitudes were more militant. The pair left RAM searching for a group more meaningful to them.<ref>The connection between RAM and the founding of the BPP is discussed in Pearson 1994, page 76-77</ref>

They worked at the North Oakland Neighborhood Anti-Poverty Center, where they also served on the advisory board. To combat police brutality, the advisory board obtained 5,000 signatures in support of the City Council's setting up a police review board to review complaints. Newton was also taking classes at the City College and at [[San Francisco Law School]]. Both institutions were active in the North Oakland Center. Thus the pair had numerous connections with whom they talked about a new organization. Inspired by the success of the [[Lowndes County, Alabama#history |Lowndes County Freedom Organization]] and [[Stokely Carmichael]]'s calls for separate black political organizations,<ref>[http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/lowndes-county-freedom-organization Lowndes County Freedom Organization | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed<!--Bot-generated title-->]</ref> they wrote their initial platform statement, the Ten-Point Program. With the help of Huey's brother Melvin, they decided on a uniform of blue shirts, black pants, black leather jackets, black berets, and openly displayed loaded shotguns (in his studies, Newton had discovered a California law that allowed carrying a loaded rifle or shotgun, as long as it was publicly displayed and pointed at no one).<ref>For more on this, see Pearson 1994, page 109</ref>

===The Ten Point Program===
The Ten Point Program was as follows:
# We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities' education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society.
# We want completely free health care for all black and oppressed people.
# We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, all oppressed people inside the United States.
# We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.
# We want full employment for our people.
# We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black Community.
# We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
# We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society.
# We want freedom for all black and oppressed people now held in U. S. Federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.
# We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people's community control of modern technology.<ref>[http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/home/bpp_program_platform.html The Ten Point Platform & Program] from Its About Time (itsabouttimebpp.com)</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111bppp.html
|title=The Black Panther Party Platform (October 1966)
|accessdate=2008-03-27
|publisher=Hanover College Department of History}}</ref>.

==Action==
===Survival programs===
[[Image:CaptialismplusdopeBPP.jpg|thumb|150px|right|1970 BPP pamphlet combining an anti-drug message with revolutionary politics.]]
Inspired by [[Mao Zedong]]'s advice to revolutionaries in the ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong|The Little Red Book]]'', Newton called on the Panthers to "serve the people" and to make "survival programs" a priority within its branches. The most famous and successful of their programs was the [[Free Breakfast for Children|Free Breakfast for Children Program]], initially run out of an [[Oakland, California|Oakland]] church.

Other survival programs were free services such as clothing distribution, classes on politics and economics, [[free clinic|free medical clinics]], lessons on [[self-defense]] and [[first aid]], transportation to upstate prisons for family members of inmates, an emergency-response [[ambulance]] program, [[Drug rehabilitation|drug and alcohol rehabilitation]], and testing for [[sickle-cell disease]].<ref>[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002270461_danny11.html Reunion of Black Panthers stirs memories of aggression, activism]</ref>

The BPP also founded the "Intercommunal Youth Institute" in January 1971,<ref>Jones, Charles Earl. The Black Panther Reconsidered . Black Classic Press, 1998. Pg. 186</ref> with the intent of demonstrating how black youth ought to be educated. Ericka Huggins was the director of the school and Regina Davis was an administrator.<ref>
Brown, Elaine. A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1992. Pg.391</ref> The school was unique in that it didn't have grade levels but instead had different skill levels so an 11 year old could be in second-level English and fifth-level science.<ref>
Brown, Elaine. A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1992. Pg. 391</ref> Elaine Brown taught reading and writing to a group of 10 to 11 year olds deemed "uneducable" by the system.<ref>
Brown, Elaine. A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story. 1st ed.. New York: Pantheon Books, 1992. Pg.392</ref> At the school children were given free busing; breakfast, lunch, and dinner; books and school supplies; children were taken to have medical checkups; and many children were given free clothes.<ref>
Brown, Elaine. A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story. 1st ed.. New York: Pantheon Books, 1992. Pg.393</ref>

===Political activities===
The Party briefly merged with the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]], headed by the fiery [[Stokely Carmichael]] (later Kwame Ture). In 1967, the party organized a march on the California state capitol to protest the state's attempt to outlaw carrying loaded weapons in public. Participants in the march carried rifles. In 1968, BPP Minister of Information [[Eldridge Cleaver]] ran for Presidential office on the [[Peace and Freedom Party]] ticket. They were a big influence on the [[White Panther Party]], that was tied to the Detroit/Ann Arbor rock band [[MC5]] and their manager [[John Sinclair (poet)|John Sinclair]], author of the book ''Guitar Army'' that also promulgated a ten-point program.

===Conflict with law enforcement===

As the Black Panther Party was beginning to gain a national presence, police began a crackdown on the party and their activities. [[Huey P. Newton]] was arrested for an alleged murder, which sparked a "free Huey" campaign, organized by [[Eldridge Cleaver]] to help Newton's legal defense. Newton was convicted, though his conviction was overturned in the 1970s.

In April 1968, the party was involved in a gun battle, where [[Bobby Hutton]], a Panther, was killed. Cleaver later said that he had led the Panther group on a deliberate ambush of the police officers, thus provoking the shoot-out.<ref>Kate Coleman, 1980, [http://colemantruth.net/kate1.pdf "Souled Out: Eldridge Cleaver Admits He Ambushed Those Cops."] New West Magazine.</ref> In Chicago, two Panthers were killed in a police raid.<ref name= "Black studies" />

One of the central aims of the BPP was to stop abuse by local police departments. When the party was founded in 1966, only 16 of [[Oakland]]'s 661 police officers were African American.<ref>''The Black Panthers'' by Jessica McElrath, published as a part of [http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/blackpanthers/a/blackpanthers.htm afroamhistory.about.com], accessed on December 17, 2005.</ref> Accordingly, many members questioned the Department's objectivity and impartiality. This situation was not unique to [[Oakland, California]]. Most police departments in major cities did not have proportional membership by African Americans. Throughout the 1960s, [[race riot]]s and civil unrest broke out in impoverished African-American communities subject to policing by disproportionately white police departments. The work and writings of [[Robert F. Williams]], [[Monroe, North Carolina]] [[NAACP]] chapter president and author of ''[[Negroes with Guns]]'', also influenced the BPP's tactics.

The BPP sought to oppose police brutality through neighborhood patrols (an approach since adopted by groups such as [[Copwatch]]). Police officers were often followed by armed Black Panthers who sought at times to aid African-Americans who were alleged victims of police brutality and perceived racial prejudice. Both Panthers and police died as a result of violent confrontations. By 1970, 34 Panthers had died as a result of police raids, shoot-outs and internal conflict.<ref>from an interview with Kathleen Cleaver on May 7, 2002 published by the [[PBS]] program P.O.V. and being published in ''Introduction to Black Panther 1968: Photographs by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones'', (Greybull Press). [http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/apantherinafrica/special_photo.html Black Panthers 1968]</ref> Various police organizations claim the Black Panthers were responsible for the deaths of at least 15 law enforcement officers and the injuries of dozens more. During those years, juries found several BPP members guilty of violent crimes.<ref>[http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=4764 The Officer Down Memorial]</ref>

From 1966 to 1972, when the party was most active, several departments hired significantly more [[African-American]] police officers. Some of these black officers played prominent roles in shutting down the Panthers' activities. In Chicago in 1969 for example, Panthers [[Mark Clark (Black Panther)|Mark Clark]] and [[Fred Hampton]] were both killed in a police raid (In which five of the officers present were [[African American]]) by Sergeant James Davis, an [[African American]] officer.{{Fact|date=December 2008}} In cities such as New York City, black police officers were used to infiltrate Panther meetings. By 1972, almost every major police department was fully integrated.

Prominent member [[H. Rap Brown]] is serving [[life imprisonment]] for the 2000 murder of Ricky Leon Kinchen, a [[Fulton County, Georgia]] sheriff's deputy, and the wounding of another officer in a gunbattle. Both officers were black.<ref>[http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=946 End of Watch], [[Southern Poverty Law Center]]</ref>

;Conflict with COINTELPRO
In August 1967, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) instructed its program "[[COINTELPRO]]" to "neutralize" what the FBI called "black nationalist hate groups" and other dissident groups. In September of 1968, FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] described the Black Panthers as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country."<ref>Stohl, Michael. ''The Politics of Terrorism'' CRC Press. Page 249</ref> By 1969, the Black Panthers were the primary target of COINTELPRO. They were the target of 233 of the 295 authorized "[[Black Nationalist]]" COINTELPRO actions. The goals of the program were to prevent the unification of militant black nationalist groups and to weaken the power of their leaders, as well as to discredit the groups to reduce their support and growth. The initial targets included the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]], the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]], the [[Revolutionary Action Movement]] and the [[Nation of Islam]]. Leaders who were targeted included the Rev. [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]], [[Stokely Carmichael]], [[H. Rap Brown]], [[Maxwell Stanford]] and [[Elijah Muhammad]].

Although COINTELPRO was commissioned ostensibly to prevent violence, it used some tactics to foster violence. For instance, the FBI tried to "intensify the degree of animosity" between the Black Panthers and the [[Blackstone Rangers]], a Chicago gang. They sent an anonymous letter to the Ranger’s gang leader claiming that the Panthers were threatening his life, a letter whose intent was to induce "reprisals" against Panther leadership. In [[Southern California]] similar actions were taken to exacerbate a "gang war" between the Black Panther Party and a group called the [[US Organization]]. Violent conflict between these two groups, including shootings and beatings, led to the deaths of at least four Black Panther Party members. FBI agents claimed credit for instigating some of the violence between the two groups. <ref>Gentry, Curt, ''J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets''. W. W. Norton & Company (2001) page 622</ref>

On January 17, 1969, Los Angeles Panther Captain [[Bunchy Carter]] and Deputy Minister [[John Huggins]] were killed in Campbell Hall on the [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] campus, in a gun battle with members of US Organization stemming from a dispute over who would control UCLA's [[black studies]] program. Another shootout between the two groups on March 17 led to further injuries. It was alleged that the FBI had sent a provocative letter to US Organization in an attempt to create antagonism between US and the Panthers. <ref>[http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/Chapter_History/BPP_Pieces_of_History.html]</ref>

One of the most notorious actions was a Chicago Police raid of the home of Panther organizer [[Fred Hampton]] on December 4, 1969. The raid had been orchestrated by the police in conjunction with the FBI. The FBI was complicit in many of the actions. The people inside the home had been drugged by an FBI informant, [[William O'Neal]], and were asleep at the time of the raid. Hampton was shot and killed, as was the guard, [[Mark Clark (Black Panther)|Mark Clark]]. The others were dragged into the street, beaten, and subsequently charged with assault. These charges were later dropped. The Chicago Police and FBI were never investigated or charged for their role in the event. <ref>The FBI's involvement is noted in the [[Church Committee]] Report on page 223. A full description of the night's events can be found in Rod Bush, ''We Are Not What We Seem: Black Nationalism and Class Struggle in the American Century.'' [[New York University]] Press (March, 2000) p. 216</ref>

In May 1969, party members [[torture]]d and murdered [[Alex Rackley]], a 19-year-old member of the New York chapter of the Black Panther party, because they suspected him of being a police informant. Three party officers&nbsp;— [[Warren Kimbro]], [[George Sams, Jr.]], and [[Lonnie McLucas]]&nbsp;— later admitted taking part. Sams, who gave the order to shoot Rackley at the murder scene, turned state's evidence and testified that he had received orders personally from [[Bobby Seale]] to carry out the execution. After this betrayal, party supporters alleged that Sams was himself the informant and an [[agent provocateur]] employed by the FBI.<ref>Edward Jay Epstein, ''The Black Panthers and the Police: A Pattern of Genocide?''. New Yorker (February 13, 1971) [http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/panthers.htm]</ref> The case resulted in the [[New Haven, Connecticut]] Black Panther trials of 1970. The trial ended with a hung jury, and the prosecution chose not to seek another trial.

==Widening support==
Awareness of the group continued to grow, especially after the May 2, 1967 protest at the California State Assembly and the arrest of Newton in the fall of 1967. On February 17, 1968, a large rally was held for Huey in the Oakland Auditorium. The speakers included Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and James Forman. After this event, membership grew rapidly. The structure of the group became more defined. New members had to attend a six-week training program and political education classes (largely based on Mao's ''Little Red Book''). <ref>Pearson 1994, page 176</ref>

In 1968, the group shortened its name to the Black Panther Party and sought to focus directly on political action. Members were encouraged to carry guns and to defend themselves against violence. An influx of college students joined the group, which had consisted chiefly of "brothers off the block." This created some tension in the group. Some members were more interested in supporting the Panther's social programs, while others wanted to maintain their "street mentality". For many Panthers, the group was little more than a type of gang. <ref>Pearson 1994, page 175</ref>

Panther slogans and iconography spread. At the [[1968 Summer Olympics]], [[Tommie Smith]] and [[John Carlos]], two American medalists, gave the black power salute during the playing of the American national anthem. The [[International Olympic Committee]] banned them from the Olympic Games for life. Some [[Hollywood]] celebrities, such as [[Jane Fonda]], became involved in their leftist program. She publicly supported Huey Newton and the Black Panthers in the early 1970s. The Black Panthers attracted a wide variety of left-wing revolutionaries and political activists, including former ''[[Ramparts Magazine]]'' editor [[David Horowitz (conservative writer)|David Horowitz]] and left-wing lawyer [[Charles R. Garry]], who often acted as their counsel. Survival Committees and coalitions were organized with several groups across the United States. Chief among these in Chicago was the first Rainbow Coalition formed by Fred Hampton and the Black Panthers which included Young Patriots and Young Lords.

==Criticism==
===Violence===
From the beginning the Black Panther Party's focus on militancy came with a reputation for violence. They often took advantage of a California law which permitted carrying a loaded rifle or shotgun as long as it was publicly displayed and pointed at no one <ref>Pearson 1994, page 109</ref>. Carrying weapons openly and making threats against police officers, for example, chants like "The Revolution has co-ome, it's time to pick up the gu-un. Off the pigs!",<ref>{{cite book |title=The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s |page=207 |author=David Farber}}</ref> helped create the Panthers' reputation as a violent organization. The greater part of the reputation was earned in particular incidents such as the following.

In October 1967, Oakland police officer John Frey was shot to death in an altercation with Newton during a traffic stop. In the stop, Newton and backup officer Herbert Heanes also suffered gunshot wounds. Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter at trial. This incident gained the party even wider recognition by the radical American left, and a "Free Huey" campaign ensued<ref>Pearson 1994, page 3</ref>. Newton was released after three years, when his conviction was reversed on appeal.

On May 2, 1967, the California State Assembly Committee on Criminal Procedure was scheduled to convene to discuss what was known as the "Mulford Act", which would ban public displays of loaded firearms. Cleaver and Newton put together a plan to send a group of about 30 Panthers led by Seale from Oakland to Sacramento to protest the bill. The group entered the assembly carrying their weapons, an incident which was widely publicized, and which prompted police to arrest Seale and five others. The group pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of disrupting a legislative session<ref>Pearson 1994, 129</ref>.

On April 7, 1968, Panther Bobby Hutton, who held the title Minister of Defense, was killed, and Cleaver was wounded in a shootout with the Oakland police. Each side called the event an ambush by the other. Two policemen were shot in the incident<ref>A discussion of the event can be found in Epstein, Edward Jay. ''The Black Panthers and the Police: A Pattern of Genocide?'' The New Yorker, (February 13, 1971) page 4 (Accessed [http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/panthers4.htm here] June 8, 2007)</ref>.

From the fall of 1967 through the end of 1969, nine police officers were killed and 56 were wounded in confrontations with the Panthers. The confrontations were believed to have resulted in ten Panther deaths and an unknown number of injuries. In 1969 alone, 348 Panthers were arrested for a variety of crimes <ref>Pearson 1994, page 206 discusses many of these events, including a partial list from the summer of 1968 through the end of 1969</ref>.

===Death of Betty van Patter===
When Panther [[Betty Van Patter]] was murdered in 1974, [[David Horowitz]] became certain that Black Panther members were responsible and he denounced the Panthers. When [[Huey Newton]] was shot to death 15 years later, Horowitz characterized Newton as a killer.<ref>David Horowitz's claim about van Patten's death is often discussed on blogs. It is mentioned in an [[American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research]] book review of Horowitz's ''Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey'' called ''[http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.7387,filter.all/pub_detail.asp All's Left in the World]''. Horowitz's credibility as a critic of the left and especially of the Black Panther Party is called into question in Elaine Brown's ''The Condemnation of Little B: New Age Racism in America''. Beacon Press (February 15, 2003) pg. 250-251.</ref> When a former colleague at ''Ramparts'' alleged that Horowitz himself was responsible for the death of van Patter by recommending her for the position of BP accountant, Horowitz counter-alleged that "the Panthers had killed more than a dozen people in the course of conducting [[extortion]], [[prostitution]] and drug rackets in the [[Oakland]] ghetto". He said further that the organization was committed "to doctrines that are false and to causes that are demonstrably wrongheaded and even evil."<ref>Horowitz, David. "Who Killed Betty Van Patter?" 13 December, 1999. Salon.com. [http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/1999/12/13/betty/index.html]</ref>

==Decay and disintegration==<!-- This section is linked from [[Black Panther Party]] -->
While part of the organization was already participating in local government and social services, another group was in constant conflict with the police. For some of the Party's supporters, the separation between political action, criminal activity, social services, access to power, and grass-roots identity became confusing and contradictory as the Panthers' political momentum was bogged down in the [[criminal justice system]]. A significant split in the Party occurred over disagreements among its leaders over how to confront these challenges. Some Panther leaders, such as [[Huey Newton]] and [[David Hilliard]], favored a focus on community service coupled with self-defense; others, such as [[Eldridge Cleaver]], embraced a more confrontational strategy. A schism was made inevitable when Cleaver publicly criticized the Party as adopting a "[[reformist]]" rather than "[[revolutionary]]" agenda and called for Hilliard's removal. Cleaver was expelled from the Central Committee but went on to lead a splinter group, the [[Black Liberation Army]], which had previously existed as an underground [[paramilitary]] wing of the Party.<ref>Marxist Internet Archive: The Black Panther Party. [http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/]</ref>

The Party eventually fell apart due to rising legal costs and internal disputes. Its final leader was [[Elaine Brown]], a longtime Panther and the first and last woman to lead it where she addressed issues of [[sexism]] within the party and attempted to stave off its disintegration.

==Legacy==
[[Image:BPP REUNION 2006.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Black Panther 40th Reunion 2006]]
The National Alliance of Black Panthers was formed on July 31, 2004. It was inspired by the grassroots activism of the original organization but not otherwise related. Its chairwoman is [[Shazza Nzingha]].

In October 2006, the Black Panther Party held a 40-year reunion in [[Oakland, California]]. <ref>[http://www.jetcityorange.com/BlackPanther40thReunion/ Photos of the Black Panther Party, Oakland 2006]</ref>

In January 2007, a joint California state and Federal task force charged eight men with the 1971 murder of a California police officer.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/24/MNGDONO11G1.DTL Ex-militants charged in S.F. police officer's '71 slaying at station] (via [[SFGate]])</ref> The defendants have been identified as former members of the [[Black Liberation Army]]. Two have been linked to the Black Panthers.<ref>[http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/01/black_liberatio.html Black Liberation Army tied to 1971 slaying] (via [[USA Today]])</ref> In 1975 a similar case was dismissed when a judge ruled that police gathered evidence through the use of [[torture]].<ref>[http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-012307police,1,7612402.story?coll=la-default-underdog&ctrack=1&cset=true 8 arrested in 1971 cop-killing tied to Black Panthers] (via [[Los Angeles Times]])</ref>

;New Black Panther Party
{{seealso|New Black Panther Party}}
In 1989, a group calling itself the "[[New Black Panther Party]]" was formed in [[Dallas, Texas]]. Ten years later, the NBPP became home to many former [[Nation of Islam]] members when the chairmanship was taken by [[Khalid Abdul Muhammad]].

The [[Anti-Defamation League]] has identified the New Black Panthers as a [[hate group]]. Members of the original Black Panther Party have insisted that this New Black Panther Party is illegitimate and have strongly objected that there "is no new Black Panther Party".<ref name="no NBPP" >{{cite web |url=http://www.blackpanther.org/newsalert.htm |title=There Is No New Black Panther Party: An Open Letter From the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation |author=Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation }}</ref>

==See also==

{{col-begin}}
{{col-4}}
* [[1960s counterculture]]
* [[Black anarchism]]
* [[Black feminism]]
* [[Black Liberation Army]]
* [[Brown Berets]]
* [[Gay Liberation Front]]
* [[Gray Panthers]]
* [[I Wor Kuen]]
{{col-4}}
* [[List of former members of the Black Panther Party]]
* [[Maoism]]
* [[Marxism]]
* [[MC5]]
* [[Nation of Islam]]
* [[New Black Panthers]]
* [[New Communist Movement]]
* [[New Left]]
* [[Huey P. Newton]]
{{col-4}}
* [[The Patriot Party]]
* [[Protests of 1968]]
* [[Red Guard Party (United States)]]
* [[Red power]]
* [[Rice/Poindexter Case]]
* [[Bobby Seale]]
* [[John Sinclair]]
* [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]]
{{col-4}}
* [[Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)]]
* [[Symbionese Liberation Army]]
* [[US Organization]]
* [[Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers]]
* [[Weather Underground]]
* [[White Panther Party]]
* [[World communism]]
* [[Young Lords]]
{{col-end}}

==References==
<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count: 2; column-count: 2;">
<references/>
</div>

==Bibliography==
*Austin, Curtis J. (2006). ''Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party''. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1-55728-827-5
*Brown, Elaine. (1993). ''A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story''. Anchor Books. ISBN 0-679-41944-6
*Dooley, Brian. (1998). ''Black and Green: The Fight for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland and Black America''. Pluto Press.
*Forbes, Flores A. (2006). ''Will You Die With Me? My Life and the Black Panther Party''. Atria Books. ISBN 0-7434-8266-2
*Hilliard, David, and Cole, Lewis. (1993). ''This Side of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party''. Little, Brown and Co. ISBN 0-316-36421-5
*Hughey, Matthew W. (forthcoming 2009). “Black Aesthetics and Panther Rhetoric&nbsp;– A Critical Decoding of Black Masculinity in The Black Panther, 1967-1980.” ''Critical Sociology''.
*Hughey, Matthew W. (2007). “The Pedagogy of Huey P. Newton: Critical Reflections on Education in his Writings and Speeches.” ''Journal of Black Studies'', 38(2): 209-231.
*Hughey, Matthew W. (2005).“The Sociology, Pedagogy, and Theology of Huey P. Newton: Toward a Radical Democratic Utopia.” ''Western Journal of Black Studies'', 29(3): 639-655.
*Joseph, Peniel E. (2006). ''Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America''. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-7539-9
*Lewis, John. (1998). ''Walking with the Wind''. Simon and Schuster, p. 353. ISBN 0-684-81065-4
*Ogbar, Jeffrey O. G. (2004). ''Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity''. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
*Pearson, Hugh. (1994) ''The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America'' De Capo Pres. ISBN 0201483416
*{{cite journal |author=Phu, T. N. |date=2008 |month= |title=Shooting the Movement: Black Panther Party Photography and African American Protest Traditions |journal= Canadian Review of American Studies|volume= 38|issue=1 |pages= 165-189}}
* Shames, Stephen. "The Black Panthers," Aperture, 2006. A photographic essay of the organization, allegedly suppressed due to [[Spiro Agnew]]'s intervention in 1970.

==External links==
* [http://www.blackpanther.org/ BlackPanther.org] official website according to the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation.

;News articles
*[http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/children-of-the-revolutionary/17053/ Children of the Revolutionary] 2007 LA Weekly feature on the 1969 UCLA shootout that killed John Huggins and Bunchy Carter.
*[http://www.yesweekly.com/article-2333-the-strange-history-of-the-black-panthers-in-the-triad.html1 "The strange history of the Black Panthers in the Triad"] By Jordan Green, ''[[Yes! Weekly]]''. Greensboro NC. Published April 11, 2006. Retrieved April 14, 2006.

;Archives
*[http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificapanthers.html UC Berkeley Social Activism Online Sound Recordings: The Black Panther Party]
*[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/index-be.html Hartford Web Publishing collection of BPP documents]

;Laudatory links
*[http://libcom.org/library/the-black-panther-party-for-self-defense "The Black Panther Party for Self Defence"] from Libcom.org.
*[http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers "The Black Panther Party"] from Marxists Internet Archive.

;Critical links
*[[Sol Stern|Stern, Sol]]. "[http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon_5_27_03ss.html Ah, those Black Panthers! How Beautiful!]" from ''[[City Journal (New York)|City Journal]]'', 27 May 2003. Retrieved March 13, 2006.

{{African American topics}}
{{BlackPanther}}
[[Category:Black Panther Party| ]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1966]]
[[Category:Activism]]
[[Category:African Americans' rights organizations]]
[[Category:COINTELPRO targets]]
[[Category:Irregular military]]
[[Category:History of Oakland, California]]
[[Category:Political parties of minorities]]
[[Category:Politics and race]]
[[Category:Politics of Oakland, California]]
[[Category:Defunct American political movements]]
[[Category:Identity politics]]
[[Category:Far-left politics]]
[[Category:Political movements]]
[[Category:Civil rights movement during the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration]]

[[ar:النمور السود (حركة حقوقية)]]
[[ca:Panteres Negres]]
[[da:De Sorte Pantere]]
[[de:Black Panther Party]]
[[et:Mustad Pantrid]]
[[es:Partido Pantera Negra]]
[[fr:Black Panther Party]]
[[gl:Panteras Negras]]
[[hr:Stranka crnih pantera]]
[[it:Pantere Nere]]
[[he:הפנתרים השחורים (ארצות הברית)]]
[[nl:Black Panther Party]]
[[ja:ブラックパンサー党]]
[[no:Black Panthers]]
[[pl:Czarne Pantery]]
[[pt:Panteras Negras]]
[[ru:Партия чёрных пантер]]
[[sr:Црни пантери]]
[[fi:Mustat pantterit]]
[[sv:Svarta pantrarna]]
[[ta:கருஞ்சிறுத்தைக் கட்சி]]
[[tr:Kara Panter Partisi]]
[[uk:Партія чорних пантер]]
[[yo:Black Panther Party]]
[[zh:黑豹党]]

Revision as of 17:10, 30 March 2009

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