The Black Panther Party for Self-defense was founded in October 1966, by Huey P.

Newton and Bobby Seale, black militants from Oakland, California. It was formed on the issues of

a ten-point program calling for black power, full employment, "the overdue debt of forty acres

and two mules," decent housing, education that "teaches our true history," black exemption from

military service, an end to police brutality, freedom for all black prisoners, trials with "peer

group" juries, and a UN plebiscite "throughout the black colony" for determining the "will of the

black peoples as to their national destiny." Most of America was falsely convinced by the media

that the Black Panthers were at war with the whole white power structure. Their militancy towards

the police was a defensive action against the abuse, that this arm of the government's army,

committed against them. As they explained "It is not in the panther's nature to attack anyone

first, but when he is attacked and backed into a corner, he will respond viciously and wipe out the

aggressor."

     Newton and Seale were influenced by the teachings of Malcolm X, and the work of the late

Martinique psychiatrist Frantz Fanon, author of The Wretched of the Earth (1965). As students at

Merrit College, in Oakland, they had organized a Soul Students' Advisory Council, which was the

first group to demand that what became known as African-American studies be included in the

school curriculum. They parted ways with the council when their proposal to bring a drilled and

armed squad of ghetto youths onto campus, in commemoration of Malcolm X's birthday, the year

after his assassination, was rejected. The founding of the Black Panther Party was heavily

supported by the African American community and chapters opened throughout the country.

Eldridge Cleaver, author of Soul on Ice (1968), joined the party in February1967. Cleaver became

an important organizer for the Panthers, and took over the party's direction when Seale was later

arrested for armed invasion of the state assembly chamber in Sacremento and Newton was jailed

for, the later dropped charge, of murdering Officer John Frey of Oakland. Cleaver organized

Newton's defense untill he was forced to flee to Cuba in 1968. In alliance with the Peace and

Freedom Party the Black Panther Party put up candidates in both the national and California

state elections of 1968. Eldridge Cleaver was made the coalition's presidential candidate.

     The Black Panthers felt that armed struggle was the only way to resist their oppression. They drew

a lot of attention from the media, and wrath from the police and FBI, by carrying loaded firearms

in public, then legal in California, at all times. This symbolic and legal act was taken by racist

police officers as a threat. Instead of being seen as a militant yet productive organization, which

supported its community through services such as free meal programs and educational classes, it

was attacked as an aggressive subversive force to the American way of life. Tensions mounted

between the Panthers and police, and eventually escalated into a 1968 shootout in Oakland.

Newton later made the statement that "every time you go execute a white racist Gestapo cop, you

are defending yourself." Cleaver more aggresively responded: "A black pig, a white pig, a yellow

pig, a pink pig- a dead pig is the best pig of all. We encourage people to kill them." The FBI

operation COINTELPRO destroyed the Panthers, in time, with a string of arrests, murders and

forced exiles.

     Before their demise the Black Panthers were able to make a huge impact on America, both

physically and inspirationally. They brought attention to the problems of the African-American

community in America, and the issue of police brutality, at the time of the large urban riots of

1968, and Martin Luther King's assassination. Their free breakfast program provided meals to

200,000 children daily. Most amazingly they proved that grassroots movements can make a

difference, even when the US government resists against it.

From A Dictionary of Contemporary American History
Stanley Hochman and Eleanor Hochman
Penguin Books, NY

and American Decades 1960-1969
Richard Layman
Gale Research Inc. 1995
 

Conflict at Kent State: a chronology of events from the weekend of April 30th up to and including
the Monday shootings

Kent State - May, 1970: the aftermath and it's impact on the Nixon administration and the potency
of the anti-war movement

May 4th, 1970: Website of the May 4 Task Force student organization at Kent State

Kent State: Kent State.com, internet site of the greater Kent community

Generation in Revolt: an examination of the reaction to the killings on college campuses
nationwide: West Virginia University's response as a typical example of the tension

Alan Canfora: wounded student's website: his views and political activism then and now

Conflict at Kent State :  a minute by minute account of events

Kent State - May, 1970 : Cambodia incursion brings tension to a head across the U.S.

KSU Libraries and Media Services May 4 Chronology : more chronology of events  before,
during and aftermath.

Kent State Shootings: A Chronology : a longterm chronology of the aftermath.

Four Dead In Ohio: Was There A Conspiracy At Kent State?: curious questions, was their a
conspiracy? Was there a cover-up?