Black Panther Newsletter

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The Black Panther Party was founded during the turbulent times of the sixties that saw many changes in America. Newton at first led the party with an ideology called their Ten Point Program, and with the idea that arming Black communities was essential for their protection and survival. Through community assistance programs and armed community patrols to prevent police brutality, the Black Panther Party sought to protect and uplift their communities, stepping in where the government had failed them.  In order to promote their party’s ideals, generate revenue, and recruit new members, the Party began publishing the Black Panther newspaper. It grew from 4 pages to 32, adding color and better design under the direction of Emory Douglas who was the Black Panthers’ Minister of Culture and the paper’s editor. Douglas’s skills as a graphic designer and illustrator produced the imagery that would define not only the Black Panther Party but the entire Black Power movement. The success of the paper grew, had distribution across the United States, and later reached other countries as well. Internal strife among leadership and members, as well as extensive government interference, led to the crumbling of the Black Panther Party. With it went their iconic newspaper that for over a decade was a visual record of the Black Panther Party, the Black Power movement, and the struggle for civil rights.TIMELINE1827 – Freedom’s Journal first published<br />1936 – Robert George Seale was born in Liberty, Texas<br />1942 – Huey Percy Newton is born in Monroe, Louisiana <br />1943 – Emory Douglas was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan<br />1960 – Emory Douglas started studying Graphic Design at City College of San Francisco <br />1963 – Martin Luther King Jr delivers “I Have A Dream” speech<br />1965 – Lowndes County Freedom Organization was founded by Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Alabama<br />1966 – Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale met in Oakland, CA, and founded The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense<br />1966 – BPP developed survival programs <br />1967 – California Governor Ronald Regan signed Mulford Act <br />1967 – Sale and Newton established the BPP first headquarters in Oakland, CA<br />1967 – Black Panther Intercommunal News Service<br />1967 – Newton was shot and jailed after a standoff with a police officer<br />1967 – Emory Douglas met Newton and Seale and joins the BPP<br />1967 – David Hilliard, BPP chief of staff, first arrested for selling the Newspaper<br />1968 – Kerner Commission publishes findings on potential race war; faults white institutions<br />1968 – Martin Luther King Jr assassinated, race riots erupt across USA <br />1968 – Newton was convicted of manslaughter for killing a police officer <br />1970 – FBI memo says circulation for BPP Newspaper was 139,000 a week<br />1970 – Newton was released due to his conviction being overturned on appeal<br />1971 – Newton shifts BPP focus to community programs, leadership is challenged by other part members <br />1971 – Newton expels 21 members, the “panther 21” over rumors of kidnapping and fratricide; also expels Eldridge Cleaver over suspicions of assassination through letters<br />1971 – Cleaver’s followers tied up Sam Napier in NY distribution office for the BPP newspaper and shot him, set fire to office<br />1974 – Netwon fled to Cuba on accusations of murdering a prostitute, Elaine Brown takes over as leader of BPP<br />1974 – End of BPP<br />1977 – Newton returns to California to stand trial for the murder of a prostitute<br />1978 – Jonina Abron takes over as editor of BPP Newspaper <br />1980 – Last year BPP Newspaper is published REFERENCESAlkebulan, P. (2012). Survival pending revolution: The history of the Black Panther Party. The University of Alabama Press. Berry, A. H., Collie, K., La