preview

The Black Panthers In The 1960's

Decent Essays

During the late 1900’s, African Americans were not allowed to do as many things as white people could. Many African Americans disagreed about that, and wanted to make a change in the law. During that time period, some people spoke out about the problems African Americans were having, and how everyone should be equal. Then, in the late 1960’s a very different association was formed. They were the Black Panthers, and they believed in many things that other self defense groups didn't believe in. One of those things was using self defense. Throughout the years of the party, they went on to do many great things for the black community. The Black Panthers defended African Americans from police brutality, they started many programs for struggling …show more content…

The Panthers would match into cities armed. The Panthers were a serious threat to the police, since the Panthers harmed the police in many ways. If a member of the BPP witnessed a police officer treating an African American unfair, they would hurt the police officer, and sometimes even killed police officers. In October of 1967, Huey Newton was arrested for shooting a police officer. After Newton was shot by police officer, John Frey, Newton murdered him. Newton used self-defense, which was allowed in the BPP, to kill a police officer. As the Panthers violence became worse, the FBI became attracted to the BPP. The FBI wanted to shut down the BPP as soon as possible, so they attacked the leaders of the Black Panthers. FBI leader, Edgar J Hoover Called the BPP, “the greatest threat to the internal security in the …show more content…

As Black Panther violence became, the FBI had one main goal. Their goal was to take out the Black Panthers. The FBI took out the Panthers by taking down their main leaders. The FBI forged letters to Black Panther leaders, acting as if they were certain Black Panther members. The forged letters resulted in Black Panther members being removed from the group. Then, on December 4, 1969, police raided Panther leader Fred Hampton’s apartment in Chicago. Hampton and Mark Clark were shot dead. While 4 other Panther members were shot in his apartment, but were only injured. The police raided his bedroom at 4:00 am, and shot him while he was sleeping. Hampton was 21, and Clark was 17 years old. Then, the FBI was targeting Eldridge Cleaver. The FBI started sending him forged letters, saying that the BPP was trying to remove him from office. After many accusations, Cleaver was removed from the Black Panthers, and started his own

Get Access