Black Panther – Historical Contexts
The Colonisation of Africa:
In 1815, the colonisation of Africa began. The colonisation history dates back to the 1200s - by the 1480s, the Portuguese started to settle along the west coast of Africa in the Kingdom of Kongo trading guns and cloth in exchange for enslaved prisoners from the war. Up until 1870s, European countries largely stuck to coastal areas of Africa. They focused on setting up trade relationships and small bases that would help them travel across the coast of Africa to trade in Asia.
European countries mainly set up trading posts (a place controlled by a European country for trading goods) because not much was known about inland Africa. This brought a lot of attention to the African continent. Historically, European countries had only been interested in small trading posts, they were now rushing to gain control of huge parts of land that would give them access to gold and riches.
Then the Berlin conference took place. The conference’s main purpose was to decide how Africa would be divided between the European countries, while avoiding war with each other. There were no African representatives at this conference – therefore Africa did not have a voice to argue against the division despite the fact this choice would have a significant impact on Africa and its people. Thousands of Africans were killed by European forces as each nation claimed the territory they decided was theirs. This process became known as the ‘Scramble for Africa’.
In the 1870s, around 10% of the African continent was controlled by European countries. By 1914, this had increased to 90%. Ethiopia and Liberia were the only African countries not under European control, though Italy would briefly occupy Ethiopia in 1936.
Germany was forced to give up its colonies as punishment for its defeat in World War One. Some of these colonies were given to Britain, which further increased its strength and influence in Africa.
The Slave Trade:
The labour of enslaved people was used in the Americas to produce goods such as tobacco, cotton, sugar and indigo dye. The exploitation of enslaved people made many Europeans, including the British, extremely wealthy. It is estimated that British slave ships made around 10,000 voyages across the Atlantic, transporting approximately 3.4 million people – only 2.6 million people survived the journey. People lost their lives due to the greed and want of wealthy Europeans who didn’t consider the health and safety of those enslaved to the ‘needs’ of Europe. The slave trade was inhumane and selfish – Europeans sacrificed lives just to feed their wealth.
20th Century Civil Rights Movements
Many people in the civil rights movement made use of direct action to try and achieve their aims for equality. This included lots of different methods such as marching, boycotts, strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations. Methods of the civil rights movement took place in the hope that it would draw attention to the issues of inequality and spark a change within society. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, ordinary people from across the US undertook lots of different kinds of protest and action to demand equality and an end to racist segregation laws. Dr Martin Luther King Jr was a Christian Baptist minister and a leading member of the civil rights movement. In 1955, he became well-known as a leader of the Montgomery bus boycott. He gave people lifts in his car and was sent to prison for two weeks for his role in the protest.
The Black Panthers
In 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale set up the Black Panther party in Oakland, California. The party was intended to be an African American defence group located within the Oakland ghetto. A group of Black Panthers invaded the California State Legislature to protest against a new gun control law that was being discussed. This attracted national attention. The party was popular with young African American people, and most American cities had a branch of the party by 1968. There were self-help groups (organised by the Black Panthers) in the ghettos for black American communities that included free breakfast clubs for children and free health clinics. However, in 1969, 27 Black Panthers were shot dead by the police in several gunfights. Over 700 Panthers were arrested for various offences. By the middle of the 1970s, the Black Panthers had disappeared.
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