Rodriguez 1

Daniel Rodriguez

Mr. Metro

H US History

29 April 2009

Black Panthers

The Black Panthers were a group of African-Americans established to promote Black

Power and self-defense through acts of communal protest. Founded in Oakland, California, by

Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton on October 15, 1966, the organization originally set forth a

principle calling for the protection of African American neighborhoods from police brutality, in

the interest of African-American justice. Due to the police brutality against the many actions of

the Black Panther Party during the late 60s and early 70s, the Black Panthers struggled to

continue their meetings and protests; they did not succeed in achieving their goals, however

without them the United Sates might not have ever reached a definite resolution in the fight for

civil liberties.

Police brutality played a major role in keeping the Panthers from reaching their success.

Local police departments began to increase their violent attacks against the Panthers. “August

1967, FBI started to hang around the party members” (Van Peebles 75). Clearly at this point the

police was already keeping an eye on the party only one year upon their initiation. On March 4th

1968, the FBI plunged into a group of Panthers (Van Peebles 75). The Black Panthers were

forced to continue with their actions even with police repression.

J. Edgar Hoover, the head director of the FBI issued a memo outlining the staff’s goals:

“1. Prevent coalition of militant black nationalists groups. In unity there is strength...black
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nationalists groups might be the first step toward a real Mau Mau. 2. Prevent the rise of a

Messiah who would unify and electrify the Black Nationalists movement” (Van Peebles 75).

Hoover is stating that the ultimate goal of the FBI was to just keep African Americans separated

and unable unify. “…to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities

of black nationalists hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen,

membership, and supporters” (Wolf, ”COINTELPRO”). The FBI doesn’t even want the groups

to form. Both Seale and Newton were both imprisoned many times throughout the Black Panther

Party’s ten year lifetime.

On March of 1968, Arthur Morris, Bunchy Carter’s brother, along with being the very

first member of the Black Panther Party was shot and killed by some United States government

agents for no apparent reason other than being a Black Panther Party member. In that same

month, Anthony Coltrale, another Panther member was assassinated by a Los Angeles Police

Department officer in Watts. On December 4th 1969, Chicago police assassinated two very

important Panther members, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Both the FBI and local police

departments cooperated in extreme and even illegal actions, like raids on the homes of Panther

leaders that sometimes did result in deaths. The police of Birmingham, Alabama went as far as to

openly work with Ku Klux Klan members to try and maintain the Black Panthers under control.

“Out of the 661 members of the Oakland Police Department only 16 were African American.

This lead members of the Black Panthers to believe that the police department had some serious

issues when it came to African Americans (MIA).” Although the slight integration of the police,

they were integrating for all the wrong reasons. African Americans were being used in the Police

Forces to spy on the Black Panthers and gain knowledge of future Black Panther actions.
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Of course, members of the Party rapidly caught on to the Police’s ideals. As a result of

this, by the end of 1972 at least four African Americans were killed. H. Rap Brown, who is

currently serving life in prison, was a prominent Black Panther Party member. He murdered a

Georgian’s Sheriff Deputy and wounded another officer, both sheriff and officer being of African

American decent. Police harassment and internal problems took a massive toll on the Black

Panthers and it indeed restrained them from achieving their goals.

At this point the Black Panther Party was at a critical stage having lost four important

members within three years of the party’s lifetime. The party desperately needed a meeting place;

somewhere they could gather and communicate amongst each other about their plans of action.

Father Earl A. Neil, the Panther’s cleric guided the Black Panther Party through it’s Free

Breakfast for Children Program at St. Augustine church. Neil believed that the Black Panther

Party had “the most incisive analysis and response to the scene in America” (Van Peebles 99).

Neil offered Newton his church as a meeting place for the Panthers. Due to the offering of his

church, Father Neil became targeted by policemen and other federal agents.

Multiple armed Police units moved in on the church, surrounding it on April 3, 1968.

This was extremely unfortunate for the Black Panther Party because they were in the middle of a

meeting with other members. The Police, accompanied with a white catholic priest and a black

clergyman entered the church. However, David Hilliard, who at the time was the highest ranked

Black Panther Party member present, refused to allow the Police to enter the sanctuary, therefore

waving a red flag of suspicion towards the Black Panther Party, David Hilliard in particular.

Even though being in the Black Panthers was extremely dangerous, that was not a factor

maintaining people from joining the party. The Black Panthers was an organization that ranked

among the most militant in the counterculture in fighting for the black power movement and a
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socialist program. “The party aimed to gain complete control of the institutions in the

community.” (Van Peebles 75) The Black Panthers were aiming to achieve the total control of all

the institutions in the community.

By late 1968 the Black Panthers were armed with members who were eager to apply

various points of their 10-Point Program. The Black Panthers hoped their programs would have a

threefold effect. “Meet the immediate needs of the citizens the pledged to serve; inspire the

African American community to take up guns to defend the programs; and demonstrate that the

party did so much with so little while the government did so little with so much” (Van Peebles

99). The first program, which was to meet the immediate needs of the citizens pledged to serve,

means that the people who are willing to serve the Panthers were given their needs first. The

second program was used to inspire African Americans to pick up guns to defend the programs

sent out a message to the African Americans to try and defend the programs so that they can last.

The final program was just a demonstration of how the white government had everything they

needed and more, but only did so little with it, while the Black Panther Party had so little, but did

so much with that little that they had. These programs also untied the party from criticism of no

valid actions.

After the turbulent 1960s, the Panthers lost much of their popular support, and their

power waned. Some members turned to more conformist methods of political action, while

others longed for the combative days. Bobby Seale resigned his place in the Black Panther Party.

In 1990 Newton was killed in Oakland while buying crack cocaine. In 1992 former panther

Bobby Rush won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the first Illinois

Congressional District. The Black Panthers never achieved their goals.

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Works Cited

Van Peebles, Mario, Ula Y. Taylor, and J Tarika Lewis. Panther. New York: New Market

Press,1995.

“Black Panthers.” American History. 2009. ABC-CLIO. Hamilton High School, Los Angeles,

California. 26 Apr. 2009 <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

“Bobby Seale.” American History. 2009. ABC-CLIO. Hamilton High School, Los Angeles,

California. 26 Apr. 2009 <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

“Huey Newton.” American History. 2009. ABC-CLIO. Hamilton High School, Los Angeles,

California. 26 Apr. 2009 <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

Wikipedia. 26 Apr. 2009. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 23 March 2009

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party>.

Spartacus Educational. School Net. 23 Mar. 2009 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co .uk/

USApantherB.thm>.

Stockdale, Nancy L. “endangered civil liberties.” American History. 2009. ABC-CLIO. 14 Apr.

2009 <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

“Black Power Movement.” American History. 2009. ABC-CLIO.14 Apr. 2009 <http://www.

americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

COINTELPRO -- Black Nationalist Hate Groups. 2004. Wolf, Paul. 26 Apr. 2009

<http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/blacknationalist.htm#bpp>.

MIA: History: USA: The Black Panther Party. 2002. Basgen, Brian. 29 Apr. 2009

< http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/>.