The Black Panthers Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 by party members Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in the city of Oakland, California. The party was established to help further the movement for African American liberation, which was growing rapidly throughout the sixties because of the civil rights movement and the work of Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King. The Party disembodied itself from the non-violence stance of Dr. King and chose to organize around a platform for â€Å"self-defense†, (which later became part of the party’s original name). The party was established to help further the movement for African American liberation, which was growing rapidly throughout the sixties because of the civil rights movement and the work of Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King. The Party disembodied itself from the non-violence stance of Dr. King and chose to organize around a platform for â€Å"self-defense†, (which later became part of the party’ s original name). As a Marxist-Leninist organization and worked with many white activist organizations(for example, California’s Peace and Freedom Party). The Black Panthers name was derived from The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC, pronounced "snick"), while working to register voters in Lowndes county, Alabama. Following the success of the Mississippi Freedom Party, organizers worked to create the Lowndes County Freedom Organization as an independent party. At the time, it was required that all organizational parties have visual emblem for [non-educated] voters. The SNCC contacted a designer in Atlanta for logo. The designer first choice was dove, but the workers of SNCC thought that it was too gentle, so the finally the designer suggested that the organization use the mascot of Clark Atlanta College, The Black Panther. Thus, the Freedom Party). Thus, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization became The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, and soon the parties were founded all across the nation. Many of these parties were unconnected to the SNCC. On April 25, 1967, the first issue of The Black Panther, the party official news organ, [was distributed]. In the following month thereafter, the party launches a march on the California state capital fully armed, in protest of the state’s attempt to band the possession of loaded weapons in public. Bobby Seale proceeded to read a statement of protest; while ... ...tions, and numerous dirty plots. The Black Party eventually fell apart due to the FBI’s systematic attempts to disassemble the party. Due to major financial dilemmas, some members went on to join another group called the Liberation Army, whiles others subdued themselves to enact a pro-peace philosophy, and others were incarcerated (Assata Shakur, Sundiota Acoli, Afeni Shakur). (Wikipedia:The Free Encyclopedia,1997).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the contrary, even though the old Black Panther Party was actually diminished due to antics by the federal government, a group calling themselves the New Black Panther emerged from the Nation of Islam decades after of the original Black Panthers. A new National Alliance of Black Panthers was formed on July 31, 2004, and is said to be inspired by the grassroots activism of the original organization, but is not related. (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 1997). Refrences The Black Panther Party. (1997). Marxists.org Retreived April 11,2005 http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/balck-panthers/1966/10/15.htm The USA Archives.(1969). Marxists.org Retreived April 11,2005 http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/balck-panthers/1966/10/15.htm