The Black Panther Party
A Stand For Justice
By: Tera
The Black Panther Party (BPP) was a group of black protesters that was active in the southern states from 1966-1982. It was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale on October of 1966. It was created for self-defense. They practiced militant self-defense against the U.S. government and the BPP fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs. The party was one of the first organizations in the U.S. Once they gained some national prominence, the Black Panther Party became an icon of the counterculture of the 1960's.
The leader of the BPP was Huey P. Newton. He was born on February 17, 1942 in Monroe, Louisiana and died August 22, 1989. in Oakland, California. Huey was an African-American political and urban activist. He served some time for being involved in a shooting that killed a police officer and he also went for manslaughter. Also when he was a teenager, he went jail several times, some including gun possession and vandalism at age 14. When he was little he had three brothers and 3 sisters, he was the youngest. In 1945, his family moved to Oakland, California as part of the second wave of the Great Migration. Newton's family was very poor and often relocated throughout the San Francisco area. Growing up in Oakland, Huey stated the following "I was made up to feel ashamed of being black". That is horrible to ashamed of the color of your skin! He graduated from Oakland Technical High School.
Robert George "Bobby" Seale was the co-founder of the BPP. He was born on October 22, 1936 and is still living to this day. Bobby was the oldest of four children in Dallas, TX. The Seale family lived in poverty during Bobby's early life. After moving 3 times, the family settled in Oakland, CA and was 8 years old during World War II. Seale went to Berkley high school then later dropped out and joined the US Air Force in 1955. He was kicked out of the Air Force for fighting with a commanding officer after 3 years of service. After being discharged, he started as a sheet metal mechanic, while earning his high school diploma at night school. He later went to college and joined the Afro-American Association (AAA) same as Huey P. Newton. This was a group devoted to black separatism. He later married and had a son.
The Black Panther Parties original purpose was to protect local black neighborhoods from police brutality. They later grew to 2000 members with chapters in several major American cities. The BPP had several demands of our government such as: The arming of all African Americans, no blacks drafted into the Vietnam War in support of "white America", the release of all African Americans from jail, and they wanted money for the discrimination of their ancestors by racist whites. All of these demands were made under the civil rights umbrella. They are also about helping the black community by setting up kitchens across the US and feeding over 10,000 hungry kids everyday before school. They also saved a lot of blacks from being beaten and jailed by white police simply for going to a whites only place.
BPP changed the face of civil rights and made many blacks confident and independent about themselves and they stood up for what they believed in as a group. I find that standing up for what you believe in is important, but the BPP took their demands to far because drastic results could happen. The BPP didn't want more African Americans to die in a war they didn't agree with. It is not fair that the BPP demanded to be paid for what whites did to past generations because it was not them being exploited. The BPP gave many black men a purpose making them feel respected and gave them leadership skills.
The civil rights are important to US history because it explains that not everyone was treated fairly and everyone should be no mater your gender, race, or religion. When you look back on what whites did to blacks and blacks did to whites, you realize that even though we look different from each other, we are all the same on the inside and we are all children of God.
BPP changed the face of civil rights and made many blacks confident and independent about themselves and they stood up for what they believed in as a group. I find that standing up for what you believe in is important, but the BPP took their demands to far because drastic results could happen. The BPP didn't want more African Americans to die in a war they didn't agree with. It is not fair that the BPP demanded to be paid for what whites did to past generations because it was not them being exploited. The BPP gave many black men a purpose making them feel respected and gave them leadership skills.
The civil rights are important to US history because it explains that not everyone was treated fairly and everyone should be no mater your gender, race, or religion. When you look back on what whites did to blacks and blacks did to whites, you realize that even though we look different from each other, we are all the same on the inside and we are all children of God.