The BPP (Black Panther Party) was a political group established in October 1996 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (Bell, 2016). The organization was active in the U.S from the year 1966 to 1982, with global chapters functioning or operating in Algeria amid the year 1969 and 1972 and in the U.K during the early 1970s. Following its inception of 25th October 1966, the core practice of the Black Panther Party involved its armed citizens’ patrols which aimed at monitoring the behavior of Oakland Police Department’s officers and challenging police savagery in Oakland, California. During the year 1969, community social initiatives became a primary activity of the members of the party (Kirkby, 2011). The Black Panther Party established a range of community social initiatives, for instance, community medical centers, and Free Breakfast for Children initiatives to address problems like food injustice. The BPP enrolled many members and created the most significant effect in areas such as New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and the bay area amid Oakland and San Francisco. Some of the influential women in the Black Panther movement include Elaine Brown, Angela Davis, Afeni Shakur, and Kathleen Cleaver. The paper will delineate their respective influences and accomplishments in the party.
Elaine Brown is an American singer, writer, prison activist, and former chairwoman of the Black Panther Party based in Oakland. Elaine became acquitted or familiar with the BPP (Black Panther Party), an African-American militant political group by 1967 (Davies, 2018). The Party’s primary aim was to protect or safeguard black families from the increasing rates of police brutality and violence. Elaine joined the group in 1968 as a file-and-rank member tasked with the duty of selling the party’s newspapers, analyzing revolutionary literature, cleaning guns, and other related tasks. She joined the BPP’s Southern California section and consented to abide by the Black Panther regulations. Under the BPP code members were to attend classes on political education regularly, read specific publications, conform with the Party’s disciplinary regulations to the latter, utilize firearms, and review the ten-point BPP program and platform (Jeffries & Dyson, 2017). She later played a significant role in helping the BPP launch its first Free Breakfast for Children Program in Los Angeles. Brown also participated in the instigation of the BPP's first Free Legal Aid Program and Free Busing to Prison Program. Elaine was later commissioned by the BPP's chief of staff, David Hilliard, to record and produce her songs; this subsequently enhanced her capacity to create an album titled Seize the Time (Portorti, 2017). Elaine thereafter became the editor of the Black Panther compendium in the BPP’s Southern California Branch. Brown afterward became a member of the BPP’s Central Committee following her appointment as the Minister of Information in 1971. Elaine replaced Eldridge Cleaver following his expulsion from the party (Phillips, 2015).
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In 1973, Huey P. Newton, the Minister of Defense and founder of BPP, commissioned Elaine to record additional songs which later resulted in the production of Until We’re Free , her second album (Davis, 2018). Brown unsuccessfully vied for the position of the city council in Oakland in 1973. During the year 1973, she secured thirty percent of the casted votes. Brown ran for the position again in 1975 and lost with a forty-four percent. Newton appointed Elaine to lead the BPP in 1974 because he was facing murder charges and, therefore, needed to flee; he fled to Cuba. Brown chaired the party from the year 1974 to 1977 (Tillotson, 2017). Elaine later resigned from her position as the leader of the BPP after Newton approved the beat-down of Regina Davis, one of the administrators of the Panther Liberation School, who confronted a co-worker because he failed to complete his task. Brown could not tolerate the patriarchy and sexism of the BPP anymore (Potorti, 2017).
Afein Shakur was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, on 10th January 1947. Afein joined the unfolding Black Panther campaign in1964, following her meeting with Malcolm X’ associate who was recruiting members amid the youths residing in the Bronx. Jasmine Guy , a popular biographer, reports that Shakur claimed that the Black Panthers took her rage and channeled it into meaningful use (Phillips, 2015). The biographer further asserts that Shakur claimed that the Black Panthers educated her mind and gave her a sense of direction. She started writing articles for the Panther Post , the BPP’s newsletter and she was significantly successful in fabricating a misdirection movement that led the FBI agents to think that the BPP was fading or becoming extinct. She later moved in with Lumumba Abdul, a fellow Panther in 1968. Shakur together with twenty other members of the Panther Party was arrested on 2nd April 1969 and indicted of different conspiracy counts including the bombing of department stores, police stations, and various public places located in New York City (Tillotson, 2017). She was later released during the fall of 1970 on bail and became pregnant by William Garland, a truck driver from New Jersey. Shortly afterward, her bail was repealed, and she was taken to jail to wait for trial. Shakur later attained her freedom in 1971.
Kathleen Neal Cleaver is a professor of law in the U.S who was born on 13th May 1945 and is primarily identified by her involvement or participation in the Black Panther Party and Revolutionary movement. Kathleen was given the task of planning a student conference in Nashville, Tennessee at Fisk University (Jeffreys & Dyson, 2017). While at the conference, Kathleen met Eldridge Cleaver, the BPP’s Minister of Information who was addressing individuals at the conference. Cleaver later moved to San Francisco to join the BPP in November 1967. At the BPP, Kathleen became the BPP’s Communications Secretary, and her specific duties included organizing demonstrations, designing posters, holding press conferences, developing pamphlets, and addressing the public at rallies and on television. Kathleen created this position following inspiration from Julian Bond of the SNCC. Eldridge Cleaver and Kathleen Neal got married on 26th December 1967. Cleaver was the first female group member in the decision-making framework of the BPP and the Communications Secretary. Additionally, she worked as the press secretary and spokesperson. Cleaver also planned the national campaign aimed at freeing Huey Newton, the BPP’s Minister of Defense, who was in jail. In 1968, Kathleen vied for a political position in California. Due to their involvement with the BPP, they were always police investigation targets (Kirkby, 2011).
Angela Davis Yvonne is an author, academic, and political activist based in the U.S. She was born on 26th January 1944. During the 1960s, Angela emerged as an important counterculture partisan or activist working with the U.S.A Communist Party. She was a member of the party until the year 1991. Moreover, during the Civil Rights Movement, she played a role in the BPP (Phillips, 2015). Angela was a BPP’s member for a while until she became tired of the sexist approaches amid members (Phillips, 2015). In the early 1970s, Angela actively participated in the campaign aimed to improve or better the conditions of prisons for inmates and this led to her movement demanding the “Soledad Brothers’” release.
Black Panther Party was a political organization whose primary aim was to protect or safeguard black families from the increasing rates of police brutality and violence. The program of Black Panthers incorporated aspects such as revolutionary rhetoric, vigorous activities as self-defense strategy, and an undying commitment to strengthening and building black communities. Women such as Kathleen Cleaver, Afein Shakur, Angela Davis, and Elaine Brown made significant achievements in the Party, for instance, Elaine Brown became the first female to assume the role of Chairperson in the Party.
References
Bell, J. M. (2016). Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party. Social Forces , 95(1), 1–3
Davies, T. A. (2018). Beyond Radical Chic: The Black Panther Party: Founded in Oakland, California more than half a century ago, the Black Panther Party’s revolutionary image and legacy remain as political and racially divisive as ever. History Today , 68(4), 36–51.
Jeffries, J., & Dyson, O. (2017). The Black Panther Jubilee: An introduction. Journal of African American Studies , 21(1), 4–5.
Kirkby, R. J. (2011). “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”: Community activism and the Black Panther Party, 1966-1971. Canadian Review of American Studies , 41(1), 25–62.
Phillips, M. (2015). The Power of the First-Person Narrative: Ericka Huggins and the Black Panther Party. Women’s Studies Quarterly , 43(3/4), 33–51.
Potorti, M. (2017). “Feeding the Revolution”: The Black Panther Party, Hunger, and Community Survival. Journal of African American Studies , 21(1), 85–110.
Tillotson, M. (2017). The Black Panther Party: a Virtuous Alignment with an African Worldview. Journal of African American Studies , 21(1), 71–84.
