The Black Panther Party And The Civil Rights Movement

The Black Panther Party had a great deal of negative outlooks portrayed on them by not everyone, but more than half of the society. Without a doubt, the Black Panther Party addressed multiple situations with violent acts that implemented negativity towards them. The late Martin Luther King believed that he could obtain equality without having to use violence as a lament, instead the Black Panther’s believed that King’s non-violence movement had failed, and that violence was necessary to get through to the people who saw black communities and minority groups as insignificant. Although, the Black Panther Party only granted membership to African Americans, they weren’t anti-white, the Black Panther Party considered themselves

     Organized in the 1960s at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party emerged as a revolutionist group pioneering a strategy of militancy. The Party’s aims were to eliminate the discrimination challenging African-Americans in America since the time of slavery, and to protect their communities from police brutality. Inspired by contemporary radical leaders such as Malcolm X, the party recognized that in order to restructure American society so that civil equality was obtainable by all people, a much stronger opposition was necessary. Party members felt the passive resistance adopted by their predecessors fighting for equality proved

     The Black Panther had a huge background of history, goals, and beliefs. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, Ca 1966, founded the Panthers. They were originally as an African American self defense force and were highly influenced by Malcolm X’s ideas. They were named after Lowndes County Freedom Organization or LCFO. The Panthers had many goals like; giving back to the ghetto, protecting blacks from police brutality, and to help blacks get freedom and jobs. They also had many beliefs like;

Through the rise of groups such as the Black Panther Party, violence became increasingly prevalent. “The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the black people in particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature which is now considering legislation aimed at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless at the very same time that racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying the terror, brutality, murder, and repression of black people (Document F).” As a result of the lack of movement on the bill previously proposed my Kennedy to remove segregation, many African-Americans began to give up on this method of peaceful protest. “All of these efforts have been answered by more repression, deceit, and hypocrisy (Document F).” This is because as it appeared to them, it was not working and had no effect on the government. Instead, they discovered a much more direct approach which, was assured to catch the eye of the government. This method was violence. “The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that the time has come for the black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late (Document F).” Through violent “black power” groups such as the Black Panthers, the previously peaceful Civil Rights movement began to take on a new

The Black Panthers were formed in California in 1966 and they played a short but important part in the civil rights movement by gathering African Americans and uniting them together so they can fight for what they believe in. The Black Panthers believed that the non-violent campaign of Martin Luther King Had failed and any proposed changes to their lifestyle via the ‘traditional’ civil rights movement, would take too long to be implemented or simply not introduced. The two founders of the Black Panther Party were Huey Percy Newton and Bobby Seale. They preached for a “revolutionary war” but their party was believed to be African-American and they were willing to speak out for all those who were oppressed from whatever minority group. However, the Black Panthers were generally targeted by the FBI and they used dirty tactics such as forging letters to provoke conflict between the BPP’s leaders; organising the murders of BPP leaders initiating a “Black Propaganda” campaign to convince the public that the BPP was a threat to national security. “Carmichael is adamantly against allowing whites into the black liberation movement, explaining whites cannot relate to black experience and have an intimidating effect on blacks." Carmichael is a Black Panther. He did not want whites in the Party because he felt they

Next, the Black Panther Party provided a variety of social services and programs designed to meet the needs of the black community. Often times overlooked, these services have been virtually absent in the mainstream media’s coverage of the Panthers. Often times “the government’s myopic perception of the party as a glorified street gang, clouded substantial analysis of their social programs by outside observers” (Kirby). The Panthers were known to offer a “wide range of health and social services as part of its survival programs, including free breakfast programs for school children and food aid for families; schools, adult education, and childcare; medical care, medical research, and ambulance services; cooperative housing; employment assistance; free shoes and clothing; free plumbing, home maintenance, and pest control; and protective escort for the elderly” (Pope and Flanigan).For the Black Panthers, the periods of 1968 to 1971 ushered in a positive period where Panther-initiated social programs and services, not only blossomed, but thrived all over the country (Kirby).

What started out as a need to supply only African Americans with the services and needs of their efforts, was soon labeled as black racism, not only by the white establishment but from within the leaders of the Black Panthers as well. As a result, the Black Panthers soon expanded their circle of influence to previously deprived white groups, usually Communist and other socialist groups which had been set on the fringe of society by America. The focus in the later years of the Black Panthers was on social issues as their Ten Point Plan will attest. Even though the reign of influence within the Black Panther party, as it related to a national movement, lasted less than a decade, in that time, positive social change eventually sprang up from its origins and efforts of the masses. The Panthers assumed a Robin Hood type roll of distributing money and services to the community. Through legal and illegal money the Black Panther Party was able to improve many of the facilities that were used by African Americans. They

Founded on October 15th 1966 in Oakland, California, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense was an organization opposed to police brutality against the black community. The Party’s political origins were in Maoism, Marxism, and the radical militant ideals of Malcolm X and Che Guevara. From the doctrines of Maoism they saw the role of their Party as the frontline of the revolution and worked to establish a unified alliance, while from Marxism they addressed the capitalist economic system, and exemplified the need for all workers to forcefully take over means of production (Baggins, Brian). Mao was important to the Black Panthers because of his different stance on Marxism-Leninism when applied to Chinese peasants. The founders of the Black

STREET, J. (2010). The historiography of the Black Panther Party. Journal of American Studies, 44(2), 351-375. ProQuest. Web. 9 September 2015

The Black Panther Party for Self Defence (BPP) was a group of revolutionary black nationalists campaigning within one of the most provocative and dynamic political periods. The legacy of the BPP is controversial, often being characterised as the most influential black movement organisation of the late 1960s and the ‘strongest link between the domestic Black Liberation Struggle and global opponents of American Imperialism.’ However, contrasting views exist with some other commentators depicting the Party as criminal rather than political stating ‘images of defiant posturing over substance.’ Through the examination of the histories of the BPP considering their purpose, historical technique, type of history and the overall impact on the image of the party, three different movements in the representation of this period occur. The first works, including those accounts of Newton and Seale themselves, who were the co-founders of the party produced recounts focused on the individual experiences of the BPP and generally portrayed a positive view of the party, praising their actions and contributing to the characterisation of the party as a vanguard of late 1960s radicalism and as an organisation hounded by the Oakland Police (OP) and FBI. The second wave of accounts including the 1994 publication of Hugh Pearson’s history of the BPP emerged within the same period, in which a more negative interpretation of the Party’s decline was indicated and the faults of the party leader,

What comes to mind when you think of the Black Panther Party? Do you even know who the Black Panthers really were? They helped transform the lives of many African Americans in the U.S and helped empower the community. The Black Panther has a huge background of history, goals, and beliefs. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale from Oakland, California founded the Panthers in 1966. Initially, they were an African American self defense force and were highly influenced by Malcolm X’s beliefs. The Panthers had many goals such as;freedom, protecting blacks from police brutality, and helping African Americans obtain a jobs. Despite the negative stereotypes of the Black Panthers as people who ran around with guns, fighting police, they were a major group during the Civil Rights Movement because they practiced self defense, established revolutionary socialism, and stimulated Malcolm X's influence. In the following I will discuss the successful changes the Black Panther Party, had on the African American community during the civil rights movement.

The movement, using the slogan “Black Power,” followed the teachings of Malcolm X, an African American leader who died the same year and who promoted that African Americans separate from white society in favor of forming their own community. The Black Panther Party, a militant organization that viewed themselves as soldiers warring against the white hierarchy, arose from such ideals. Despite the challenge that “Black Power” proposed to the nonviolent movement, civil rights activists continued persevered in finding the end of black discrimination legally. They found success in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which both contributed to legally naming minorities as equal citizens, as well as protecting the same from discrimination. Although the strength of the civil rights movement dissipated after the 1960s, activists continue to make efforts to end entirely the racial discrimination within America’s economic and social policies.

The Black Panther party was a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization active in the United States from 1966 until 1982. Although they were many times only seen as a gang or criminal group they have proven to be much more than that. The Panthers operated schools, opened medical clinics, and instituted a variety of other social programs, perhaps most extensively the free breakfast for children program in which they provided free food to kids in ghetto neighborhoods. The organization got its start out of necessity by trying to defend the community against long standing and racially motivated police brutality, a noble and just cause, and government repression contributed to its growth and expansion with every panther killing or arrest. The aggressive stance of the party and liberal use of weapons and violence, as well as their clear racial motivations, scared a lot of a predominantly white America.The government took steps to "neutralize" what the FBI called "black nationalist hate groups" and other dissident groups. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described the Black Panthers as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.” Many believe their public image as thugs was unfairly given to them by the largely racist public of the 1960s that had not yet gone through the civil rights movement. A former leader of the party recently spoke out against this public

It tired to solve issues in the black community. One of the ways they tried to end police brutality for blacks is by having armed patrols follow the police in African American communities (BlackPast). These patrols would wear leather coats and berets to show their military like force. These patrols would act in civil disobedience to make the police. The party tried to end police brutality in other ways to by listening in to police scanners to end violent encounters with African Americans (Washington Post). There were several violent conflicts with the police that the Panthers got into. John Frey, a member of the black panther party shot and killed a policeman during one of these conflicts, and spent 15 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter (History). The Party also did several other programs to like free breakfast, schooling, and health clinics to improve the African Americans lives. They also did an armed protest in the California Sacramento, at the California statehouse (Britannica). This was a demonstration of civil rights, and the right to bear arms (Engelbert). The Black Panther Party also relied on symbols and phrases so that the party and its motives would stick in people’s heads. The phrase “Black Power” was made to show the independence of the

At a time of war and inequality, when Americans were divided through a different perspective, everyone had their own views on the war and inequality between races. Such events like the civil rights movement in full swing with leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., police using brutalization force against African Americans, and soldiers dying in the Vietnam War, were the major reasons behind the differences between the races. The Black Panther Party was a response to the injustice of equality against African Americans. It was formed in 1966 by two activists named Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California. The party was first formed to protect the black community from police violence. While the Black Panther Party frightened people, the “Black Panther Party Platform, Program, and Rules” communicated their message well by expressing their beliefs, the rules required to be in the party, and how a member should act always.