hi i'm clint smith and this is crash
course black american history in the
history of the fight for black
liberation there have been black
political organizations who have been
around doing this work for decades
organizations for example like the naacp
and the national urban league who were
founded in the early 20th century and
still exist today and these groups which
have been in existence for over a
century have helped bring about some
incredibly important policy changes when
it comes to the civil and political
rights of black americans and have also
served as platforms from which black
people can make their concerns known to
the wider public but sometimes an
organization doesn't have to have
existed for a long time in order to have
a huge impact on the history of this
country
an example of that
is the black panther party founded in
1966 by huey newton and bobby seale the
black panther party reached its peak
just four years later in 1970. the
organization had an impact on u.s
history and culture that far exceeded
its relatively short lifespan and small
membership
let's take a look to understand why
[Music]
let's start with the black panther
party's origin story in the thoughtful
originally known as the black panther
party for self-defense the organization
started through the campus organizing of
seal and newton they met in oakland
california in 1961
while they were both students at merritt
college in the tense atmosphere
following the 1965 assassination malcolm
x newton seal and other student
activists organized the black history
fat group the group was founded in part
as a response to the university failing
to acknowledge the role of african
americans in settling the american west
in the 1800s among their goals was to
urge the school to offer courses in
black history and to establish a black
studies department newton and seal also
joined the college's sole students
advisory council whose stated goal was
to quote develop black student
leadership advocate for a more inclusive
curriculum and to connect the university
to the community but disputes within the
group would lead newton and seal to
eventually resign but their struggle to
continue the work of black radical
political organizing didn't end there
newton and seal
pivoted their goals
rather than looking to join another
political organization they decided to
form their own students of the teachings
of malcolm x they founded the black
panther party for self-defense
later known just as the black panther
party in 1966
following the murder of unarmed teenager
matthew johnson at the hands of san
francisco police
thanks a lot bubble
according to historian robin c spencer
newton and seal framed the tenants of
the new organization around the belief
that black americans were living in an
internal colony within the larger mother
country of the united states borrowing
from black nationalists and
post-colonial movements of the time they
posited that the relationship between
the black colony and the mother country
was according to spencer
one of pure exploitation of labor and
resources
therefore they sought to liberate the
black colony through self-determination
as a part of their larger goal to
transform america and eventually the
rest of the world
this aligned with their larger vision of
correcting racial and classic qualities
seal and newton were also interested in
how black liberation struggles worldwide
were interconnected to the struggles of
black americans they were avid readers
of marxist theory and studied
anti-colonial movements from around the
world they believed that guerilla
warfare could be an effective strategy
for social change and that small groups
of armed people could lead that change
their politics were also informed by the
struggles for self-determination around
the world in places like vietnam
zimbabwe then known as rhodesia south
africa and mozambique after the black
panthers were founded newton and seal
outlined the group's agenda
philosophical views and political
objectives in their ten point program
the program's objectives state one
we want freedom
we want power to determine the destiny
of our black and oppressed communities
two
we want full employment for our people
three
we want an end to the robbery by the
capitalists of our black and oppressed
communities
four
we want decent housing
fit for the shelter of human beings
five
we want decent education for our people
that exposes the true nature of this
decadent american society we want
education that teaches us our true
history and our role in the present day
society
six
we want completely free health care for
all black and oppressed people
seven
we want an immediate end to police
brutality and murder of black people
other people of color and all oppressed
people inside the united states
eight
we want an immediate end to all wars of
aggression
nine we want freedom for all black and
oppressed people now held in u.s federal
state
county city military prisons and jails
we want trials by a jury of peers for
all persons charged with so-called
crimes under the laws of this country
and 10.
we want land
bread
housing education clothing justice peace
and people's community control of modern
technology after creating this 10-point
platform they decided on a name
borrowing from the lowndes county
freedom organization in lowndes county
alabama a political group that used the
image of the black panther in their
materials and was led by activists
including stokely carmichael and john
hewlett in addition to their 10-point
program the black panthers were also
actively engaged in their community
through a number of social programs that
looked to pool collective resources and
support the black community this group
of programs served as a rallying cry and
human rights manifesto aiming to correct
centuries of harm inflicted on all
oppressed people the black panther's
vision was at once practical demanding
things like health care and housing
while simultaneously being revolutionary
in its scope among their most popular
programs were the establishment of free
health clinics in 13 black communities
across the country and the
implementation of free breakfast
programs for school children in
different parts of the u.s the free
breakfast program that was started by
the black panthers became an inspiration
for the breakfast programs that still
exist in schools across the country
today the black panthers were also known
for carrying unconcealed loaded weapons
and monitoring the activities of local
police in black neighborhoods as they
continued to engage in political
activism and social change their
popularity grew across the country
especially in urban centers with large
minority communities like los angeles
new york city and philadelphia
additional chapters were established in
places like chicago indianapolis detroit
des moines iowa paterson new jersey and
wichita kansas by 1968 approximately two
years after the panthers were founded
they had roughly 2 000 members across
the country but the burgeoning political
movement that sought to guarantee the
rights and freedoms of black people
also attracted a fair amount of
controversy especially as it relates to
their interactions with the us
government and the police for example in
october of 1967
newton allegedly killed oakland police
officer john fry this followed a period
of armed interaction with police
officers since one of the principal
tenants of the black panthers was the
right to self-defense in the face of
white supremacist violence in may of
1967
newton had sent more than two dozen
armed panthers to the california state
capitol in sacramento to protest the
passing of a law that would take away
their right to openly bear arms
ronald reagan was governor of california
at the time and vehemently opposed the
panthers who he believed served as a
threat to his law and order campaign the
resulting news coverage painted the
panthers as a militant group and the new
leaders of the black power movement more
broadly by the morning of october 28
1967
newton estimated that the oakland police
had pulled him over more than 50 times
since 1966.
that morning he was pulled over by
police and within minutes newton was on
the ground with a bullet in his stomach
officer john fry was fatally wounded and
another officer was injured
newton was named as the shooter and
handcuffed while still in the hospital
during this period in 1967
while newton awaited trial and seal was
serving a six-month sentence as a result
of the black panthers protest in
sacramento a member named eldridge
cleaver who joined the group in 1966
took over as the new leader of the
panthers in 1967 he married fellow black
panther member kathleen neal
cleaver's critically acclaimed 1968
memoir soul on ice which told the story
of his life and time in prison
sold over one million copies within two
years cleaver had studied the work of
writers like thomas paine voltaire karl
marx richard wright all while
incarcerated and this influenced his
personal philosophies and political
writings however there was criticism of
solo nice versus depictions of violence
and women
specifically cleaver admits in the text
to committing serial rape of women
beginning with black women in poor
communities
for practice
before beginning the serial rape of
white women cleaver's admissions and
soul on ice point to larger societal and
systemic issues of patriarchy and sexism
namely the pervasive disregard of
violence toward women
and these issues which were present
within the black panther party would
serve as an ongoing challenge for the
organization as a whole additionally
troubles with law enforcement continued
to plague the black panthers first
newton was convicted of voluntary
manslaughter in 1968 and sentenced to
two to 15 years in prison however on may
29 1970 the california court of appeals
overturned the conviction and the next
few trials ended with deadlocked juries
the black panthers he returned to
even after just a few years
had shifted dramatically in some ways
from the organization that he founded
with seal for example there was now a
growing group of white radicals who
would join the group's ranks and under
the leadership of cleaver and others the
rhetoric of self-defense
had shifted to include an ideology that
embraced revolutionary violence
additionally the group faced inner
turmoil in 1969
alex rackley was murdered by other
members of the black panthers who
suspected that he was an informant
seal and other panthers faced charges in
new haven connecticut for that alleged
murder but it wasn't only internal
issues plaguing the organization
external forces also impacted the group
like the assassination of black panther
party members fred hampton and mark
clark by the fbi and local police in
chicago in 1969. see
by 1969 the fbi under its first director
j edgar hoover had declared the panthers
a communist organization and an enemy of
the u.s government
in 1968 hoover called the panthers quote
one of the greatest threats to the
nation's internal security because of
this the panthers became the target of
the fbi's cointelpro
a secret counter-intelligence program
that used to surveil
politically progressive groups but the
organization continued to function with
elaine brown serving as the chairwoman
of the black panther party from 1974 to
1977. she was the only woman to hold
this role
and often face sexism and discrimination
for asserting herself and leading the
party gender roles within the party were
often quite restrictive but women like
brown kathleen cleaver assata shakur and
erica huggins held leadership positions
within the organization including as
editors of the party's newspaper still
cointelpro agents
managed to infiltrate events and the
personal lives of prominent members of
the party in the 1970s a senate
committee led by frank church a democrat
from idaho
exposed the fbi and cointelpro as the
scholar pneal e joseph has described it
the fbi and cointelpro had a quote
clandestine role in the dismantling of
the black power new left and anti-war
movements
and revealed further evidence of the
pitfalls of unchecked government power
under the weight of internal strife and
external pressures and surveillance the
organization officially dissolved in
1982 the black panther party helped to
bring black power to national and
international prominence and raised
important questions about black people's
right to fair treatment
equality and self-defense
it's not an organization that was
perfect
and it shouldn't be overly romanticized
in ways that ignore some of its
institutional and interpersonal feelings
at the same time its legacy shouldn't be
minimized or mischaracterized because of
the multiple forms of state-sanctioned
interference it experienced from
american intelligence agencies the black
panther party's contribution to the
black freedom struggles of the 1960s and
1970s and today
was profound
and that means sitting with all of the
complexities that come with it
thanks for watching
i'll see you next time
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