| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Contents | ||
The Black Panther Party (originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a revolutionary Black nationalist organization in the United States that formed in the late 1960s and grew to national prominence before falling apart due to factional rivalries stirred up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is best known for its members calling police officers "Pigs" and carrying guns inside the California State capitol.
The party was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966 in the city of Oakland, California. The party was created to further the movement for black liberation , which had been growing steadily throughout the sixties thanks to the prominent civil rights movement and the work of people like Malcolm X. The party rejected the integrationist, nonviolent stance of Martin Luther King, and made it clear from the beginning that it sought no compromise with the "white power structure". The party similarly rejected nonviolence as a creed and specifically chose to organize around a platform of "self-defense" (which became part of the party's original name, "Black Panther Party for Self-Defense").
As a Marxist-Leninist party, the Black Panthers focused their rhetoric on revolutionary class struggle. Although the party was characterized by varying degrees of black nationalism, Newton and Seale rejected cultural nationalists as "black racists". Contrary to popular perception, the BPP was not a seperatist organization and worked closely with many white activists (for example, CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located in the western United States, bordering the Pacific Ocean. The most populous and third largest state in the U. California is both physically and demographically diverse. The state's official nickname is "The Golden State", wh's Peace and Freedom Party). Indicative of this was the BPP's use of the slogan "All Power to the People!" which represents a more internationalist (and Marxist) perspective than Stokely CarmichaelStokely Carmichael ( June 29, 1941 November 15, 1998), also known as Kwame Ture was an American Black activist and leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party. He later became a Black separatist and Pan-Africanist.'s famous slogan, "Black Power!" http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch28.htm 1 .