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Departmental Papers (ASC) Annenberg School for Communication

1-1-2000

Black Panther Party: 1966-1982

Michael X. Delli Carpini University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers

Part of the Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons

Recommended Citation (OVERRIDE) Delli Carpini, M. X. (2000). panther party: 1966-1982. In I. Ness & J. Ciment (Eds.), The encyclopedia of third parties in America (pp. 190-197). Armonke, NY: Sharpe Reference. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/1

NOTE: At the time of publication, the author Michael X. Delli Carpini was affiliated with Columbia University. Currently January 2008, he is a faculty member of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/1 For more information, please contact [email protected]. : 1966-1982

Abstract The Black Panther party was founded in Oakland, , in 1966. From its beginnings as a local, community organization with a handful of members, it expanded into a national and international party. By 1980, however, the Black Panther party was once again mainly an Oakland-based organization, with no more than fifty active members. In 1982, the party came to an official end. Despite itselativ r ely short history, its modest membership, and its general eschewing of electoral politics, the Black Panther party was arguably the best known and most controversial of the black militant political organizations of the 1960s, with a legacy that continues to this day.

Disciplines Social Influence and oliticalP Communication

Comments NOTE: At the time of publication, the author Michael X. Delli Carpini was affiliated with Columbia University. Currently January 2008, he is a faculty member of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

This book chapter is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/1 *******~*********************** BLACK PANTHER PARTY 1966-1982

he Black Panther party was founded in movement, and-with the formation of the Na­ Oakland, California, in 1966. From its tional Organization of Women-the beginnings T beginnings as a local. community orga- of the second wave of the women's movement. nization with a handful of members, it ex­ The Democratic party,beneficiaries ofa landslide panded into a national and international party. victory just two years earlier, was beginning to By 1980, however, the Black Panther party was unravel underthe strainofthepolitics ofrace and once again mainly an Oakland-based organi­ growing internal di~agreement over u.S. in­ zation, with no more than fifty active members. volvement in Vietnam. In 1982, the party came to an official end. De­ It was in this context that the Black Panther spite its relatively short history, its modest party was born. Its co-founders, Huey P. New­ membership, and its general eschewing of elec­ ton and , met while both were at­ toral politics, the Black Panther party was ar­ tending in Oakland, California. guably the best known and most controversial Newton, born in 1942, and Seale, born in 1936, of the black militant political organizations of were both active in campus politics, helping to the 1960s, with a legacy that continues to this form the Soul Students Advisory Council. The day. council quickly became split between those who wanted to confine their activities to campus cul­ tural emichment programs, and those, led by Newton, who wanted to organize the larger FOUNDING OF THE Oakland community as part of the greater PARTY struggle for black liberation. The split led Newton and Seale to resign The year 1966 was a pivotal year for the. civil from the Soul Students Advisory Council, vow­ rights movement in the . The non­ ing to form a new, more radical organization. violent, integrationist strategy of the National On October 15, 1966, Newton dictated a ten­ Association for the Advan~ement of p'oint plan that would become the Black Pan­ People (NAACJ;), the Southern Christian Lead­ thers' platform to Seale. The name of the party ership Conference (SCLC), and the Student Non­ was derived from the Freedom Organization Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was of Lowndes County, , which was beingchallenged bymoremilitant, nationalistor­ founded in 1966 by and ganizations such as the . (whose used an image of a black panther as its cam­ charismatic spokesperson, , had been paign symbol. By January 1967, the Black Pan­ assassinated the year before). In addition, the ther Party for Self-defense (as it was known un­ summer of 1966 was marked byforty-three "race til later in 1967 when "for Self-defense" was riots," a jump from fifteen just two years earlier. dropped from the title) had its first office in an Nineteen sixty-six was also marl

190 Black Panther Party, 1966-1982 191 raised by selling copies ofMao Zedong's iilittle eration theories ot trantz Fanon (the black red book" at the University of Calif~rnia's psychiatrist/author who fought in the Algerian Berkeley campus. ), the self-determination espoused by the movement, and the more gen­ eralized cultural and political radicalism of the . For example, the ten-point "Platform PLATFORM AND and Program" justified its demands by repeat­ PHILOSOPHY ing, verbatim, the opening paragraphs of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in its conclu­ The ' initial "Platform and Pro­ sion. And two of its planks (the arming of all and the demand for juries of peers) made gram" consisted of ten points. The first nine direct reference to the Second and Fourteenth points each stated what the party "wanted" for Amendments to the Constitution. By calling on black , and what the party "be­ the government and business community to as­ lieved" about why and how these conditions sist in improving the economic condition~ of should be met. The nine "wants" were: free­ blacks, the party also implicitly acknowledged dom, full employment, an end to capitalist ex­ the essential legitimacy of both. ploitation, decent housing, education that em­ At the same time, however, the Black Pan­ phasized black history and the current plight of thers' rhetoric was suffused with attacks on the blacks, exemption from military service, an end capitalist system and with class-based analyses, to , the freeing of all black pris­ and demonstrated an attraction to collectivist oners, and juries of peers for blacks on triaL The solutions to economic and social problems. The nine "beliefs" associated with these "wants" party also referred to black communities in the were largely elaborations on these themes, jus­ United States as colonies that had to be liber­ tifying the demands and tying them to the long­ ated in much the same way as third-world standing political and economic exploitation of nations were becoming decolonized. Though blacks. These elaborations called on govern­ the Black Panthers fell short of advocating ment and business leaders to provide remedies complete separatism, calling instead for a pleb­ but also emphasized the importance of self­ iscite that would allow blacks to decide this is­ determination and the right of blacks to protect sue for themselves, they increasingly placed their interests and secure their rights "by what­ the struggle:of black Americans within the con­ ever means necessary," should the government text of a larger, international, black liberation and business community not heed their de­ movement. mands. This self-determination included a call Finally, the Black Panther party's philosophy for all blacks to arm themselves. The tenth reflected and shaped both the radical militancy plank in the Black Panther party's platform was and the multiculturalism that was embedded in a general overview, stating their demands for much of the politics of the 1960s. The regular "land, bread, housing, education, clothing, jus­ carrying of arms by members of the party and tice, and peace." It also called for a United the call for arming all blacks-while emphasiz­ Nations-supervised plebiscite, to be held ing self-defense and designed to remain within throughout the "black colony," to determine state and national laws (weapons were not con­ "the will of the black people as to their national cealed, and guns, though loaded, did not have destiny." bullets in their chambers)-put the Black Pan­ The Black Panthers' philosophy was a some­ thers in the vanguard of what was becoming an times inconsistent, often sophisticated amal­ increasingly confrontational strategy on the part gam, based on social contract theory as found of many black nationalist and New Left orga­ in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, indi­ nizations and splinter groups. At the same vidual rights as outlined in the U.S. Constitu­ time, and despite numerous specific exam­ tion, Marxist anti-capitalism, the national lib- ples of and anti-white rhetoric, the Black 192 The Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America

Panther party connected the self-determinacy of So, too, did the rhetoric' of the party, which, blacks to the self-determinacy of margin­ while emphasizing self-defense, also suggested alized groups such as the poor, women, and that armed confrontation might be inevitable in . homos.exuals. the struggle for black liberation. Finally, the militant image of the Black Panthers was accen­ tuated by the increasingly frequent shoot-outs with police, resulting in the death of as many STRATEGY, TACTICS, as twenty-eight members of the party. AND PROGRAMS Militant rhetoric, armed patrols, and dra­ matic confrontations were the most visible side of the Black Panthers and played an important Unlike most parties in the United States, the role in the party's growth, national prominence, Black Panthers were not centrally interested in and ultimate demise. But the party's activities gaining power through elections. Throughout went well beyond this. First was its commit­ most of its history, its involvement in electoral ment to community service in the form of var­ politics was limited to occasionally endorsing ious "survival programs." These programs, the candidacy of progressives from other par­ originally developed individually by various ties-for example, U.S. Representative Ron chapters of the party and then combined, in Dellums (Democrat, California). It also occa­ 1969, into a nationwide " pro­ sionally ran "symbolic" candidates for office, gram," melded the provision of basic social as when Huey Newton ran for U.S. Congress services with consciousness raising and com­ while in prison in 1968. The only serious ef­ munity organizing. Survival programs (all of forts to win elected office were in 1973, when which were provided for free) included break­ party members Bobby Seale ran for mayor and fast programs for schoolchildren, liberation ran for city council in Oakland, schools, medical clinics, clothing programs, and in 1975, when Brown tried again for the buses to prison programs, a sickle cell anemia city council. research foundation, housing cooperative pro­ The party focused instead on a series of grams, pest control programs, plumbing and community-based initiatives that, in keeping maintenance programs, food programs, child with its complex philosophy, ranged from re­ development centers, escort services for the el­ formist to . Its most radical activ­ derly, and ambulance programs. The party also ity was the implementation of Malcolm X's no­ organized a petition campaign for a referendum tion of self-defense. The Black Panthers formed to decentralize police departments in Oakland, "police patrols," first in Oakland and then, as and it created the Intercommunal News Service, the organization grew, in other cities around which published The Black Panther newspaper. the country. These patrols acted as a unique A second element of the Black Panthers' kind of "neighborhood watch" association, strategy was forging alliances with other do­ with visibly armed Black Panthers protectmg mestic New Left, ethnic, and black organiza­ citizens from potential abuses by the police. The tions. While these alliances were often troupled, patrols resulted in numerous confrontations they spoke to the party's belief in the theoretical with the police. The party's general call for arm­ and practical interconnection of the black lib­ ing blacks, the use of armed party members as eration tr,lovement with broader liberation for promine:t;lt blacks such as Betty movements. At various points, the Black Pan­ Shabazz, and the occasional but dramatic public thers worked with predominantly white New shows of force (as in 1967, when an armed Left organizations such as the Peace and Free­ group of Black Panthers lobbied the state leg­ dom party, the , and the islature in Sacramento against pending legisla­ . Representatives of the party also tion that would have limited their ability to spoke at numerous anti- and left­ carry arms)-all reinforced their militant image. ist rallies and gatherings, such as a meeting in Black Panther Party, 1966-1982 193 preparation for the iiDays or Rage!! protests at they were able to use their 'presence to associate the 1968 Democratic National Convention and themselves with, and establish ties to, a number the 1969 moratorium in . Iri. turn, of revolutionary movements, including those white-dominated organizations were active in a from Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands, number of Black Panther-sponsored events and Vietnam, South Africa, , and North programs, such as legal defense committees for Korea, as well as the Palestine Liberation Or­ imprisoned members of the party. The Black ganization. In addition, the ,Black Panthers' Panthers were also one of the first supporters anti-imperialist rhetoric, coupled with interna­ of the gay rights movementl placing this issue tional publicity over both Cleaver's travails and on their national agenda in 1970. Huey Newton's 1968 trial in Oakland, The Black Panther party also built ties with led to the formation of "committees of solidar­ leftist ethnic organizations, such 'as the Brown ity" in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Bel­ Berets (), the (Puerto Ri­ gium, Britain, , and West Germany. can), and the Red Guard (Chinese). And despite Cleaver also set up a Black Panthers office in their often critical rhetoric and occasional con­ , which was frequently visited by Euro­ frontations (most seriously, with the Los An­ peans (and Americans) interested in radical pol­ geles-based black nationalist organization Us), itics. In 1969, Cleaver and a Panther delegation the Black Panthers had reasonably good work­ visited the newly established People's Republic ing relationships with other black organizations of the Congo, hoping to locate the party's In­ such as the SNCC, the League of Revolutionary ternational Section headquarters there (these Workers, and the Republic of New Africa. Even plans were ended in 1972 when leaders sym­ the mainstream NAACP and SCLC lent a de­ pathetic to the Black Panthers were defeated in gree of financial, moral, and material support to a power struggle). And in 1970, representatives the Black Panthers. of the Black Panthers, along with representa­ In addition to ties with domestic groups, a tives of a number 6f radical movements and third element of the Black Panthers' strategy Inedia, visited , Russia, North Viet­ was developing ties with international socialist, nam, and . New Left, and black liberation movements. These ties flowed naturally from the party's un­ derlying philosophy, but were also the out­ growth of events and shifting tactics. The Afri­ can independence movements of the 1950s and ORGANIZATIONAL 1960s and the writings of had a STRUCTURE, profound influence on the Black Panthers. But LEADERSHIP, AND it was not until Panther (1935-1998) became a fugitive in 1968 (the result MEMBERSHIP of murder charges after a shoot-out with police following the of Martin Luther From its roots as a local Oakland organization, King) and arrived, via Cuba, in , that the the Black Panthers rapidly grew into a national party developed formal international ties, be­ and then international party. Six highly publi­ ginning with Algeria's Front de Liberation Na­ cized events in 1967 and 1968 were central to tionale. The Black Panthers sent a formal dele­ this increase in membership and visibility (as gation to the first Pan-African Cultural Festival well as notoriety): the use of armed Black Pan­ in Algeria in 1969. There, the party interacted thers to guard during a visit to with representatives of left-wing revolutionary the Oakland area and the resulting confronta­ organizations and governments from the Mid­ tion with police; several community rallies or­ dle East, Africa, Europe, , and ganized by the Black Panthers to tie the April, . While the Black Panthers were not offi­ 1967, shooting of a black youth in Richmond, cially recognized by the Algerian government, California, to a larger pattern of police 194 The Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America against blacks; the joining of the Black Panthers membership. The specific organizational struc­ by already well known black activists. such as ture of the regional and local chapters varied Eldridge Cleaver (author of ), SNCC significantly depending on the size of the mem­ leader S.tokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and bership and the particular activities they were ; the. sending of an armed dele­ involved in. While many ideas and suggestions gation of Black Panthers to the California State would flow up from the rank and file, through Assembly in Sacramento to protest pending leg­ branch and chapter leaders, to the national or­ islation to ban the carrying of firearms; a shoot­ ganization, ultimate authority clearly resided at out between Oakland police and the Black Pan­ the national level. Directives on strategy and thers in which Huey Newton was wounded; tactics were issued in the form of mandates and after the assassination of. Martin Luther from the top and, once issued, were expected King, a shoot-out with Oakland police involv~ to be followed with discipline. ing Eldridge Cleaver and resulting in the death While formal positions were held by differ­ of Panther . ent people throughout the party's history, the While the exact size of the party is difficult best-known and most influential leaders were to determine, the best estimates are that at its co-founders Huey Newton (minister of defense) peak in 1969, the Black Panthers had as many and Bobby Seale (chairman), Eldridge Cleaver as 5,000 members and between thirty-four and (minister of information), (chief forty local chapters in the United States. These. of staff), James Forman (minister of foreign af­ numbers underestimate the larger influence of fairs), Stokely Carmichael (prime minister), H. the party. Panther-inspired rallies drew crowds Rap Brown (minister of justice), and Kathleen estimated as large as 10,000 people, and a 1970 Cleaver (communications secretary). Occasion­ national poll (conducted by Louis Harris) found ally, state chapter leaders such as Fred Hamp­ that 25 percent of felt the ton (who was killed by police in 1969) Black Panther party represented their views. In also rose to national prominence. Other prom­ addition, the party had a semi-official or official inent black activists who were members of, or presence in Cuba and Algeria, a number of af­ associated with, the Black Panthers included filiated support groups in Europe, and regular and George Jackson. working relationships with the governments In both theory and practice, the Black Pan­ and/or organizations in Africa, Asia, the Mid­ thers drew much of its grassroots support (and dle East, and Latin America. some of its leadership) from what might be de­ As the party grew, it developed a three­ scribed ·as the lumpen -those who, tiered organizational structure. At the top level according to Marx, were not integrated into the was the Central Committee, the party's govern­ division of labor and so stood at the fringes of ing body, located in Oaklandt California. By the class system. Eldridge Cleaver, who had 1967-68 the Central Committee consisted of a himself spent much of his adult life in prison number of formal positions: chairman; chief of on a number of criminal charges, was the staff; communications secretary, prime minister; strongest proponent of recruiting members ministers of defense, information, education, from those "who live by their wits, existing off justice, foreign affairs, religion, , and fi­ what they rip' off, who stick guns in the faces nance; and field marshals. The second organi­ of businessmen and say 'stick em up' or 'give zational tier was "regional" and consisted of it up.' Those .who don't want a job, who hate to state chapters run by chapter leaders. Chapter work and can't relate to punching some pig's leaders were appointed (or if self-selected, ap­ time clock." This focus was also consistent with proved) by the national chairman or some other the writings of Frantz Fanon, who emphasized member of the national organization. The third the importance. of this class of persons in third­ tier was local, generally consisting of city world anti-colonial . However, both branches headed by branch leaders who Newton and Seale, while seeing this largely worl

tIlers, had a broader vision of the party's power sive or radical groups and individuals. Tnese base that included tl1e working poor. In addi­ efforts were designed to promote violence be­ tion, the party drew a good deal of its support tween the Panthers and other black organiza­ .(and leadership) from more educated strata, in­ tions, to encourage internal dissension within cluding a: large number of students, educators, the party, to undermine public support for the and professionals. . party and its leaders,·and to provoke local po­ The role of women in the Black Panthers lice attacks. FBI tactics included , was also complex. Leadership positions were harassment (for example, issuing. tickets for dominated by men, and numerous examples of questionable traffic violations), targeting (for sexist, patriarchal attitudes can be found in the example, arresting members often on question­ party's organizational structure and. rhetoric, es­ able charges), misinformation campaigns, and pecially in its formative years. Most notable was infiltrating the party. the gender-based distinction between "Pan-' These tactics succeeded in forcing the party thers" and "Pantherettes," and Cleaver's "pussy to devote much of its resources to legal defense power" slogan. More generally, women's opin­ funds and paying tickets, fines, and bail-bond ions and issues were often discounted, and premiums. They also were at least partially re­ women were often treated as sexual objects sponsible for the increase in arrests of members within the organization. At the same time, of the party, and in violent confrontations with the Black Panthers were committed to gender the police. Already existing philosophic and equality and saw women's liberation as part strategic rifts within the party became exacer­ and parcel of the broader efforts to achieve self­ bated. At the center of these internal disagree­ determinacy for all people. The Panther­ ments were Huey Newton, who increasingly Pantherette distinction was dropped in 1968, felt that the party should put greater emphasis and party leaders such as Cleaver apologized on its domestic community service programs, for their earlier sexist remarks and made strong and Eldridge Cleaver, who believed that the statements in favor of equal rights-within the party should advocate violent revolution and party and more generally-for women. Several increase its ties with international revolutionary women, including , Ericka movements. This disagreement split other Huggins, Joan Bird, and Angela Davis rose to African-American national leaders, as well as important leadership positions or became visi­ state and local leaders and rank and file, into ble spokespersons for the party. Elaine Brown two increasingly confrontational camps. served as chair of the Black Panthers from 1974 With Cleaver in exile in Algeria, Newton to 1977. Women such as Audrea Jones and Ha­ had greater control over the national organiza­ zel Mack played important leadership roles at tion. Beginning in 1968, he succeeded in shifting the state level, and the party endorsed and sup­ the party's emphasis away from the militant ported 's 1972 candidacy for rhetoric and actions advocated by Cleaver and president of the United States. back to community organizing and self-help, leading Cleaver and a number of national, local, and grassroots members to object. The resulting split, spurred by concerns of FBI infiltration, led DIVISION AND DECLINE to a series of purges and expulsions. Many other members, disenchanted with Newton's From its inception, local and federal efforts increasingly authoritarian tactics, resigned and were made to infiltrate, repress, and destroy the joined other black liberation organizations. In party. Beginning in 1967, and then continuing February 1971, a local San Francisco television from 1968 through 1971 under the FBI's broadcast, intended to be a forum in which counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO), Newton and Cleaver (by phone from Algeria) the federal government waged a concerted war would agree to discuss their differences, against the Black Panthers and other progres- erupted into an argument that ended with each 196 The Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America

expelling the other from the party. VVhile New­ other charges, he fled to Cuba in August 1974. . ton remained in control of the national organi­ In his absence, Elaine Brown took control of zation, a number of state and local' chapters what remained of the party. From 1974 through aligned themselves with Cleaver. 1977, Brown, while continuing some of New­ In 1972, the national party; under Newton's ton's more authoritarian tactics, was able to re­ leadership, made what would prove to be a ma­ establish the party (now claiming about 200 jor strategic mistake, deciding to run Bobby members) as a local community service orga­ Seale for mayor of Oakland and a full slate of nization, even getting government and private Black Panthers for the . funding for some of their initiatives. Brown ran Seale initially opposed the plan, but Newton again for city council in 1975, finishing second. convinced the party leadership to issue a direc­ And the party played a key role in electing Oak­ tive closing all the state and local chapters of land's first black mayor in 1977. the party and concentrating all its resources and In 1977, Newton returned to the United personnel in winning these elections. While States, prompting Brown to resign from the many state and local members followed the di­ party. After two mistrials, the murder charges rective and moved to Oakland, many others, were dismissed and Newton took over the 'unhappy with the strategy and unwilling to party. Under his leadership, the party quickly , resigned from the party. The strategy did declined again into violence, criminal activities, temporarily reinvigorate the party in Oakland" and financial mismanagement. The last issue of but marked the death knell for the Black Pan­ The Black Panther was published in 1980. In thers as a national organization. In the end, the 1982, with the closing of the Oakland Commu­ party ran Seale for mayor and Elaine Brown for nity School due to lack of funds, the Black Pan­ city council in 1973, registering voters, distrib­ ther party came to an official end. uting campaign literature, and organizing meet­ ings and rallies. Seale finished second in a three-person race, and then lost the run-off election to the incumbent mayor by a vote of BLACK PANTHER 77,634 to 43,719. Brown also did well but lost. From this point on the party remained an es­ LEGACY sentially local Oakland organization. The party continued its' downward spiral, Much of the Black Panthers' legacy is steeped with Newton becoming increasingly authoritar­ in misinformation or exaggeration. Within the ian and erratic in his approach. He took per­ white establishment and among many former sonal control of all the party's financial re­ and current members of the Left, The Black sources and alone decided on how the money Panthers are too often dismissed as an anti­ would be spent. Under his control, the party white collection of small-time criminals moti­ became involved in criminal activities in Oak­ vated by a combination of self-interest and na­ land. The party's "security cadre," created in ive left-wing politics, whose reputation and 1972 to protect the Black Panthers' candidates influence was largely the result of the extensive for office, were increasingly used to force Oak­ media coverage they received. Among blacks, land's criminal groups to pay the party for the the party is taken more seriously, but the extent right to continue their activities. In July 1974, to which the party's demise was orchestrated ,Bobby Seale resigned from the party, followed by government repression and violence is often soon after by the resignation of other prominent overstated. Both images, while selectively leaders. rooted in fact, oversimplify what is a complex Prompted in part by his abuse of alcohol and and often inconsistent history. drugs, Newton became prone to violent out­ Despite this demonizing orromanticizing, the bursts, including the alleged murder of a pros­ party's emphasis on armed resistance, commu­ titute. In order to avoid prosecution on this and l1ity service, and self-determination continues to Black Panther Party, 1966-1982 197

find echoes in liberation Inovements around the and sensibility of hip hop and rap music, in­ world. So, too, has the party's focus on the politi­ cluding direct references to the party and its cizing of the plight of blacl< prisoners. Panther­ leaders. African-American-oriented magazines -style organizations (including many that have still periodically devote articles to the Blacl< adopted the Panth.er name, such· as the milita11t Panthers. The party has been the subject of pro-elderly Gray Pant1)ers) periodically emerge plays and movies, such as Panther (a Huey P. in communities both in the United States and Newton story) and a number of websites are overseas, though these organizations often bor­ devoted to the Panthers, their memory, and row selectively from the party without a clear their continuing relevance to the politics of understanding of its history. A number of for­ black liberation. mer Black Panthers have gone on to hold local MICHAEL X. DELLI CARPINI office, work in other community 'organizations, or otherwise remain active in politics. See also: Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Toure); Angela In 1989, following the murder of Huey New­ Yvonne Davis; Lowndes County Freedom Organization; Huey Newton; ; Robert George ton by a drug dealer, several former members "Bobby" Seale. of the Black Panthers began the publication of two newspapers, The Commemorator and The Bibliography Black Panther: Black Community Service. The pa­ pers were designed to keep the party's legacy Brown, Elaine. : A Black Woman's alive by reprinting important party documents Story. : Pantheon Books, 1992. and providing commentary on contemporary Foner, Philip S., ed. The Black Panthers Speak. Phila­ progressive politics. Memoirs by a number of delphia: Lippincott, 1970. Reprint, New York: former Black Panthers have also served to keep Capo Press, 1995. the Black Panthers in the public eye, as has the Hilliard, David, and Lewis Cole. This Side of Glory: re-issuing of several formerly out-of-print The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story Panther-inspired books. Even in these cases, of the Black Panther Party. : Little, Brown, however, the Black Panthers are often viewed 1993. through distorted lenses. Jones, Charles E., ed. The Black Panther Party Recon­ Perhaps the greatest legacy of the Black Pan­ sidered. : , 1998. ther party is as a cultural icon, a symbol of Newton, Huey. To Die for the People: The Writings of black liberation and black power. The party's Huey P.Newton. New York: Random House, slogan, "Power to the People," still resonates 1972. Reprint, New York: Writers and Readers, with progressive movements. The party's sym­ 1995. bol still 'evokes a sense of militant self­ Seale, Bobby. : The Story of the Black determination among many blacks. The Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton. Baltimore: Panthers' ideology suffuses much of the lyrics Black Classic Press, 1970. Reprint, 1991.