The Black Panther party was a political “black power” group founded in October 1966 by two acquainting college students, Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. The organisation carried ideologies that included socialism, black nationalism and gun rights as self-defence in protection of the racism projected by the Oakland Police Department. They strived to form the party shortly after the assassination of black nationalist, Malcom X and the murder of the black, unarmed teenager, Matthew Johnson. The party was active from the years 1966 to 1982 and didn’t just stay in Oakland, California, as they were seen in many major American cities, such as New York, San Fransisco, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
Their early activities as a political group involved monitoring police activities in black communities, more specifically their hometown, Oakland. Over the years of participating in this, their popularity grew, resulting in them gaining 2000 members by 1968, just 2 years after the party was formed. Although, further along the timeline, the group were beginning to be portrayed as a gang as they started to involve themselves in more violent and criminal activities, which resulted in them losing their name as a “political force.” Despite this almost negative reputation being introduced, the party started several social programs, including free breakfast programs for children in schools and free health clinics in multiple African American communities located in the United States.
As the more violent behaviour and activities for the group began to accelerate, in 1967, founder and leader Newton allegedly killed police officer, John Frey, from which he was then sentenced with a maximum of 15 years in prison. During the time of his sentence in 1968, an ambush was led by the editor of the Black Panther’s newspaper, Eldridge Cleaver, alongside founder Bobby Seale, which resulted in 2 officers severely wounded and leader Seale dead. Shortly after the death of the founder and leader, conflict began within the party as member Alex Rackley was brutally murders by his fellow members as they believed that he was a police informant and bookkeeper, Betty Van Patter, was found beaten and murdered, although no one was charged of this death, many believed that the party she came from was responsible.
A secret counterintelligence program known as COINTELPRO, was made in 1956, but massively targeted the Black Panther party due to their black nationalist and socialist messages they promoted. In 1969, the party was declared an enemy of the FBI and J. Edgar Cooper stated that the Black Panthers were “one of the greatest threats to the nation’s internal security”. This declaration caused many problems for the group as it resulted in them attempting to discontinue many social programs that the Panthers instituted, such as the Free Breakfast for Children Program. Two members of the party, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were gunned down and killed in the space of their own home, whilst asleep by Chicago police. This was described as a fierce gun battle between the two sides; however, it was later revealed that only one of the 100 bullets came from the Panthers.
The Civil Rights Movement was a mass protest against racial segregation and discrimination in the United States of America, which helped transform the place of African Americans not only in the economy, but as people. In 1896, the Supreme Court declared that facilities for black and white people should be “separate, but equal”. Long after the US Civil War, slavery was completely abolished, however, African Americans living in the USA had extremely little rights and the discrimination against black people did not stop as they experienced daily, casual racism. Pre-World War II, people of colour typically worked in extremely low paid jobs such as farmers, factory workers, domestics and servants. Around the mid 20th century, black Americans, along with multiple white Americans, came together and fought for equality over the span of two decades.
People of colour in the South, experienced the most devastating effects of racism as they had to live with the “Jim Crow” laws. These laws were originally established in the 19th century and included rules that disallowed black people to share the same facilities as white people, the two races were not allowed in the same schools, interracial marriage was illegal, and they were not legally allowed to vote as they didn’t meet the correct voter literacy rates. Black people were also discouraged from joining the military during these times, however, this racial discrimination in the military was ended by President Harry Truman, as the Cold War began. When using public transport, such as the bus, people of colour were designated seats towards the back of the bus and were required to give up their seats to white people if the “white section” of the bus was full. A woman named Rosa Parks refused these laws and was arrested due to her actions.
Rosa Parks was an African American woman who was obeyed, and refused, to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery bus in 1955. Her arrest sparked immense support and further led to the formation of the Mongomery Improvement Association (MIA), which was led by one of the most famous Civil Rights activists, Martin Luther King Jr. This led to a boycott of the Montgomery bus system, which lasted 381 days as on November 14th, 1956, segregated seating on buses was put to an end. Due to the boycott, it put a certain person in the national spotlight, Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr was known to be one of the most famous Civil Rights activists of all time due to the efforts he put in to peacefully protest for an end to racial segregation and his large involvement in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The actions he carried out made him a definite target for white supremacists, which resulted in his family home being firebombed, and him even in him surviving an assassination attempt in1958, this further reinforced his dedication towards nonviolence. Although, one of King’s most known acts is his worldwide famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which took place at the March on Washington in 1963 and was delivered to 250,000 fellow Civil Rights supporters. In this speech, he called for an end to racism in the United States and is known as one of the most powerful and iconic speeches in American history.
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