The Black Panther Party (BPP) was a Black Power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in 1966. The party was active in the United States between 1966 and 1982, with chapters in numerous major cities, and international chapters in Britain and Algeria. Upon its inception, the Black Panther Party's core practice was its open carry armed citizens' patrols (cop watching) to monitor the behavior of police officers and challenge police brutality in the city. Influent members include Fred Hampton, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Erika Huggins, Charles Barron, Nelson Malloy, Bobby Rush
Inspired by Robert F. Williams' armed resistance
… Read more to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and Williams' book Negroes with Guns, Newton decided to organize patrols to follow the police around to monitor for incidents of brutality. But with a crucial difference: his patrols would carry loaded guns. Black Panther Party members were involved in many fatal firefights with police. Huey Newton allegedly killed officer John Frey in 1967, and Eldridge Cleaver led an ambush, in which two officers were wounded and Panther Bobby Hutton was killed. In 1969, the FBI developed an extensive counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) of surveillance, infiltration police harassment, and many other tactics, designed to undermine Panther leadership, incriminate and assassinate party members. The program was responsible for the assassination of Fred Hampton and is accused of assassinating other Black Panther members, including Mark Clark.
The Black Panther Party first publicized its original "What We Want Now!" Ten-Point program on May 15, 1967
1) We want freedom. We want the power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.
2) We want full employment for our people.
3) We want an end to the robbery by the Capitalists of our Black Community.
4) We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
5) We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want an education that teaches us our true history and our role in present-day society.
6) We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.
7) We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people.
8) We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county, and city prisons and jails.
9) We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
10) We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace.
T-shirts featuring quotes by famous writers, historical figures, famous unionists, anarchist philosophers, and famous feminists.
T-shirts featuring famous historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, George Orwell, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and many other famous writers, anarchist philosophers, and notorious activists.
Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement. He is best known for his time spent as a vocal spokesman for the Nation of Islam, as well as his lifelong advocacy for Black empowerment and his criticism of the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. In prison, he joined the Nation of Islam, adopted the name Malcolm X (to symbolize his unknown African ancestral surname), and quickly became one of the organization's most influential leaders after being paroled in 1952. Malcolm X then served as the public face of the organization for a dozen years, where he advocated for Black empowerment,
… Read more Black Power, and publicly criticized the mainstream civil rights movement for its emphasis on nonviolence and racial integration.
On February 21, 1965, he was assassinated in New York City by three members of Nation Of Islam. Speculation about the assassination and whether it was conceived or aided by law enforcement agencies have persisted for decades after the shooting. Malcolm X is a widely celebrated figure within African-American communities for his pursuit of racial justice. He was posthumously honored with Malcolm X Day, on which he is commemorated in various cities across the United States. Malcolm X has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. He is credited with raising the self-esteem of black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage. He is largely responsible for the spread of Islam in the black community in the United States. Many African Americans, especially those who lived in cities in the Northern and Western United States, felt that Malcolm X articulated their complaints concerning inequality better than did the mainstream civil rights movement.