Black Panthers redirects here. Black nationalism (early)

Revolutionary socialism

The Black Panther Party or the BPP (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in October 1966.[1] [2] The party was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982, with international chapters operating in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s,[3] and in Algeria from 1969 until 1972.[4]

At its inception on October 15,[5] 1966, the Black Panther Partys core practice was its armed citizens patrols to monitor the behavior of officers of the Oakland Police Department and challenge police brutality in Oakland, California. In 1969, community social programs became a core activity of party members.[6] The Black Panther Party instituted a variety of community social programs, most extensively the Free Breakfast for Children Programs, and community health clinics to address issues like food injustice.[7] [8] [9] The party enrolled the largest number of members and made the greatest impact in the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Philadelphia.[10]

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover called the party the greatest threat to the internal security of the country,[11] [12] [13] and he supervised an extensive counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) of surveillance, infiltration, perjury, police harassment, and many other tactics designed to undermine Panther leadership, incriminate party members, discredit and criminalize the Party, and drain the organization of resources and manpower. The program was also accused of assassinating Black Panther members.[14] [15] [16] [17]

Government oppression initially contributed to the partys growth, as killings and arrests of Panthers increased its support among African Americans