Black Panthers - Black Panther Party

During the Civil Rights movement, there were a lot of racial problems in the United States. The Black Panther Party during the Black Power movement was very significant in making sure Black communities were safe and making sure Black people were all-around educated: book smart, street smart, and knew about the law. After the fall of the Black Panther Party, street gangs were supposed to continue the Black Panther’s responsibility in protecting the Black communities and educating them, but soon failed and corrupted the streets. This paper is going to describe the Black Panther’s influence in the Black community and Gang culture in the Black community during and after the Black power movement.

The Black Panther Party is a black, militant nationalist organization during the civil rights movement. Formally known as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the name was changed because the organization soon began to represent more than just self-defense. The Black Panther Party was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966 in Oakland, California. Huey P. Newton was 24 years old. He was born in Oak Grove, Louisiana on February 27th, 1942. He became the leader and founder of the Black Panther Party. Bobby Seale was 30 years old. He was born in Dallas, Texas on October 22nd, 1936.1 He founded the Black Panther Party alongside Huey P. Newton. Seale was also a leader in the Black Panther Party. Newton and Seale met at Merritt Junior College in 1962.2 The organization was formed because the government wasn’t meeting the needs of Black people. The Black Panther was used because the symbol of a Black panther was chosen to represent the Black political party.3 A Black panther is known to not make an unprovoked attack, but will defend itself if it felt like it was being attacked. They made sure to never keep any type of records of themselves so the FBI couldn’t harass or harm them.4 Eldridge Cleaver was the first noted personality to the Black Panther Party ranks. He was interested in the organization after seeing how powerful the organization was as they escorted Betty Shabazz into a cultural center named the Black House. That event impacted him so much that he decided to join the organization in 1967. Eldridge Cleaver was born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas, on August 31, 1935. He moved to Los Angeles with his family at ten years old. Since moving to Los Angeles, he was always in and out of incarceration. While being incarcerated, Cleaver decided to become a Black Muslim minister. When he joined the organization, he was noted as the Minister of Information. It was his idea to drop the “self-defense” part in the original name of the Black Panther Party because the organization was more than just self-defense.5 Elaine Brown was named the leader of the Black Panther Party when Newton was incarcerated in 1974. Brown was born March 2, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a singer, songwriter, author, prison activist, and