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Marvel's Black Panther will be making his cinematic debut
in "Captain America: Civil War",
but I think there's an obvious question
that comes to mind whenever we discuss the character.
Is Black Panther named after the political party
of the same name or perhaps maybe
it was the other way around?
Let's find out.
(upbeat rock music)
Welcome to Comic Misconceptions, I'm Scott,
and I don't know about you,
but I'm excited about seeing Black Panther
on the big screen.
He's a really interesting character
with a rich history.
Black Panther, real name T'Challa,
has shown up in the comics as a king
of a highly advanced nation of Wakanda,
an Avenger, a member of the Illuminati,
he was even married to Storm of the X-Men for awhile.
He is a powerful man of superhuman strength,
agility, senses, and more,
all wrapped up in a suit laced with vibranium.
Plus, he's the first black superhero
in mainstream comics.
This guy is truly awesome.
You might understandably have a question
about the origin of his name,
and whether or not it was inspired by
the Black Panther Party,
which might normally be something we would tackle
in our other show Alter Ego,
but that show didn't exist when I scheduled this episode
for this week, so here we are.
In 1966, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale
founded an African American revolutionary organization
whose initial purpose was to conduct armed patrols
of the streets of black neighborhoods
to protect the residents from acts of police brutality.
This organization would develop further,
outlining a 10 point program that called for freedom,
employment, housing, education, and more
for members of the black community.
This organization was none other than the
Black Panther Party of Self-Defense.
The Black Panther Party grew until it reached
a membership peak in the early 70's
with thousands of members across the nation,
but their activities soon ceased due to a combination
of factors from vilification by the press,
the FBI's counterintelligence program,
and in-fighting amonst the party leaders
that caused the organization to fall apart.
By the 1980's, the Black Panther Party was all but gone.
And while they didn't exactly accomplish everything
they wanted to achieve, they were still influential,
and certainly made their mark on American history
and the Black Liberation Movement.
So the question is, did Marvel name Black Panther
after the Black Panther Party?
Well, the Black Panther Party I described just now
was founded in October of 1966.
And Marvel debuted their Black Panther character
in Fantastic Four number 52,
which is cover dated July of 1966.
So, case closed.
Marvel's comic actually predates the Party,
meaning they didn't name Black Panther
after the organization.
But wait, does that mean that the Party
got their name from the comic?
No, absolutely, that's not at all what happened.
The story behind how they chose their name
is a little more complicated than that.
The Black Panther Party actually adopted their name
and seal from another organization
that predates the Marvel character.
Let me explain.
One year earlier in 1965,
citizens of Alabama formed a new,
short-lived political party
named the Lowndes County Freedom Organization,
or LCFO, to hopefully beat out in the next election
the Alabama Democratic Party
which promoted white supremacy.
At this point in time, the literacy rate in Alabama
was so low that it was actually a law
that each party had to have its own unique symbol,
that way people who can't read can still vote
just by looking at the pictures.
The first symbol for the LCFO was a dove,
but they thought it was too passive,
so the designer then chose to draw inspiration
for the emblem from the mascot of the predominately
black Clark College, which is now
Clark Atlanta University today.
That mascot was, of course, the panther.
After adopting this logo, the LCFO became known
as the Black Panther Party.
Stokely Carmichael, the leader of the party
and the man who coined the phrase "Black Power",
gave a speech where he said quote,
"We chose for the emblem a black panther,
"a beautiful black animal which symblizes
"the strength and dignity of black people,
"an animal that never strikes back
"until he's backed so far into the wall,
"he's got nothing to do but spring out.
"Yeah, and when he springs, he does not stop."
The goal of the Black Panther Party was to get enough
people to vote in the upcoming election
that an African American might be elected into office
to improve the conditions
of the impoverished black community.
And it seemed to work.
There were soon more black
registered voters than white ones.
Unfortunately, the Black Panther Party
never actually won any election,
largely due to deep seeded racism,
as you might expect.
Despite the defeat,
the Black Panther Party became inspirational.
Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton
would later adopt the name and emblem
for their own purposes, which I discussed earlier.
So wait, am I saying that the Black Panther Party
and Marvel's character of the same name
happened to pop up completely independently
of one another in the same year?
Of course not.
A few months before Black Panther made his debut,
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were tossing around the idea
of introducing a black character into the comics.
Kirby had come up with a character
named the Coal Tiger, but they just couldn't
figure out what they wanted to do with him,
so they shelved the character
while they worked on other projects.
They were just about to start working on
the production of Fantastic Four number 52
when the New York Times ran an article
about the LCFO Black Panther Party.
Lee and Kirby decided that it was the perfect time
to introduce the Coal Tiger under a different name,
and you know what that name is.
And here's a little bonus fun fact for you.
The name Coal Tiger has been referenced a few times
in the comics, most notably as an alternate reality
version of T'Challa, which utilizes Jack Kirby's
original design for the character.
Little did they know that the name they chose
for their character would soon become
a controversial one.
Remember, by the early 70's
the Black Panther Party peaked in membership.
And it essentially had become a household name in America.
Marvel wanted to distance themself
from all of that controversy,
so they changed up the character just a little bit.
In Fantastic Four Number 119, T'Challa,
without any warning,
starts calling himself the Black Leopard.
Understandably, Thing is confused by the sudden name change,
and decides to inquire about it.
T'Challa explains that he's thinking about returning
to America, but the name Black Panther
has political connotations.
He quote, "Neither condemns nor condones
"those who have taken up the name,
"but T'Challa is a law unto himself," end quote.
Obviously, this name change did not stick.
He was back to being called the Black Panther
in no time.
So to recap, Marvel's Black Panther was not
named after the revolutionary organization
that you're probably familiar with, or vice versa.
Rather, they both took their names
from the short-lived Alabama political party,
who were themselves inspired by a college mascot.
I couldn't find whether or not the college mascot
was inspired by something,
but I would love to continue to trace
it back as far as we can go.
What do you guys think?
Does the name Black Panther for Marvel's character
still carry a political connotation,
or is it just a cool name?
Are you excited about seeing T'Challa in the MCU?
Let's talk about it all in the comments below.
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Once again, I'm Scott.
You can find me on Twitter and Instagram,
if that's your thing, if you wanna do that.
And I will see you right here on Friday
for another video.
See ya.
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