subject: A brief history of the Black Panther Party [print this page] Author: Christina Pomoni Author: Christina Pomoni
In October 1966, in the aftermath of the assassination of black leader Malcolm X and on the verge of a massive urban uprising of the Black community, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and David Hilliard manifested the creation of the Black Panther Party, at Oakland, California. The Party was initially named Black Panther Party for Self Defence and it used the image of a black panther as a symbol of power. The term Self Defence was used in order to differentiate the Party's philosophy from the dominant diplomatic theme of the civil rights movement, but also to pay respect to the civil rights group Deacons of Defence at Louisiana. Over time, the name became the Black Panther Party. Reflecting the despair of African Americans in the changing urban culture of the United States and the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Black Panther Party was a progressive political organization that rose in the front line of the powerful movements for social change in America since the Revolution of 1776 and the Civil War. Being the sole black organization in the history of black resistance against poverty, criminality, police brutality, unemployment, slavery and oppression in the United States, Black Panther Party represented the massive struggle of black people for equality, justice and freedom. Black Panther Party was one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly oppose to Black Community being an ethnic minority. Fighting for the liberation of the working class, the Black Panther Party focused on the ground-breaking institution of, social, political and economic equality across gender and colour lines. The philosophy of Black Panthers Party was extremely radical. Combining militant nationalism with Marxism and advocating the empowerment and self-defence of the Black community, often through confrontation, Black Panther Party had recruited 5,000 members by 1969 in 20 states around the U.S. The Party introduced a ten-points program asking for (1) freedom to determine the destiny of the Black community, (2) full employment for the Black people, (3) descent housing for the Black people, (4) education for the Black people, (5) exemption from military service for the Black people, (6) putting an end to the robbery of the Black Community by White capitalists, (7) putting an end to police brutality against the Black people, (8) freedom for all Black people held in prisons and jails, (9) fair trials for Black people by judges from the Black Community and (10) land, bread, clothing, justice and peace for Black people. In the early 1970s, Black Panther Party lost momentum mainly due to internal disputes and violent clashes with police. In such turbulent conditions, Huey P. Newton became disillusioned and heavily addicted to drugs, lost his self-confidence and refused to rule the Party further. At the same time, Bobby Seale resigned from the Party leaving his place to Elaine Brown in order to continue the Panther community programs. In the early 1980s, Black Panther Party falls apart completely due to external attacks and internal degradation and divisions. Without appropriate leadership and being constantly terrorized by the police, the members of the party abandoned their idealism and philosophy and ran to save their lives. Those members that remained in the Party were brutally hunted down and killed in the following years, imprisoned on tricked charges or forced to take off from the United States. Despite the collapse, Black Panther Party was considered by the FBI as the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States. This maybe explains the fact that, there has been an effort to continue the Partys philosophy by the early 1990s with a new generation of militant activists. Regardless of the Black Panther Party downfall, it is still considered as one of the most challenging and controversial parts of the American history.About the Author:
Christina Pomoni has acquired her MBA Finance from the American College of Greece. Her advanced familiarity with financial statement analysis, capital budgeting and market research has been acquired through her professional career at high-esteemed organizations. As part of her long journey, Christina has served as an Equity Research Associate at Telesis Securities (EFG Eurobank) and a Financial & Investment Advisor at ING Group. Besides, having lived at Chicago, IL, Boca Raton, FL and Paris, France has helped her, not only to be a successful professional, but mostly to see life under a more creative and innovative perspective.
Since 2005, Christina provides high quality writing services to numerous websites and research companies contributing her knowledge and expertise. Her areas of specialization are Business, Finance & Investment, Society, Politics & Culture. She also has a very good knowledge of Entertainment, Health & Fitness and Computers & Technology.
Christina currently designs the website of her own writing company. Believing that knowledge is the road to opportunity and development, her mission is to promote her already established knowledge to a growing number of visitors and to provide high quality writing services to meet the most demanding customer requirements.
