Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party (originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a revolutionary, Black nationalist organization in the United States that formed in the late 1960s and grew to national prominence before falling apart due to a combination of internal problems and suppression by state actors, especially the Federal Bureau of Investigation (which included assassination, arrests and stirring-up of factional rivalries via infiltration). It is best known for its Free Breakfast for Children program, its use of the term "Pigs" to describe police officers and for once carrying guns on the floor of the California Assembly.

Origin of the name

SNCC workers, including Stokely Carmichael were working to register voters in Lowndes county, Alabama. Following the success of the Mississippi Freedom Party, the organizers worked to create the Lowndes County Freedom Organization as an independent party. Alabama law required that all parties have a visual emblem for illiterate voters. Courtland Cox contacted a designer in Atlanta for a design. The designer originally came back with a dove, but the SNCC organizers in Lowndes thought it was too gentle, so the designer suggested the black panther, the mascot of Clark College in Atlanta. The Lowndes County Freedom Organization became the Black Panther party, and soon there were Black Panther parties coming up around the nation. Many were unconnected with the SNCC, and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was not officially connected to any of the other parties or to SNCC.

Related Topics:
SNCC - Stokely Carmichael - Mississippi Freedom Party

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