Black Panther Party was a radical political organization in the United States. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in Oakland, California, in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. A chief goal was to protect African Americans from police actions that many Black people considered brutality. In time, the Black Panthers dropped the “Self-Defense” label from their name. The organization became more of a Marxist– Communist group that favored violent revolution, if necessary, to bring about changes in society.
During the mid-1960’s, the Black Panthers called for neighborhood control of such services as education and law enforcement. The Panthers supported the use of guns—both for self-defense and to retaliate against people believed to be oppressing the poor. Hostility between the Panthers and the police led to several shoot-outs.
During the late 1960’s, the Black Panthers began to work with white radical and revolutionary groups that shared their goals. This policy brought the Panthers into disagreement with some African American groups that regarded the struggle of Black people as chiefly racial. According to the Panthers, however, the basic problem was economic exploitation of both Black and white people by profit-seeking capitalists. The Panthers called for a fairer distribution of jobs and other economic resources.
In 1973, Seale ran for mayor of Oakland. Although he lost, he won a third of the votes. This campaign indicated that the Panthers were turning toward more traditional political means to achieve their goals. They also began to stress service to the Black community. The Panthers ran a free food program, health clinic, and elementary school in the Oakland area. By the mid-1970’s, however, the Black Panther Party had ceased to exist.
The New Black Panther Party, a controversial group formed in 1989, is not related to the original Black Panther Party.
