BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY :

The Black Panther Party was an African American revolutionary Socialist Organization active in the United States from 1966 to 1982. The Black Panther Party achieved national and international notoriety through its involvement in the Black Powder movement and U.S. politics of the 1960 and 1970's. Founded in Oakland, California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale on October 15th 1966, the organization initially set froth a doctrine calling primarily for the protection of African American neighborhoods from police brutality. The leaders of the organization espoused Socialist and Marxist doctrines.   However the party early Black Nationalist reputation attracted a diverse membership.

The Black Panther Party objectives and philosophy expanded and evolved rapidly during the party existence making ideological consensus within party difficult to achieve and causing some prominent members to openly disagree with the views of the Leadership. The organization official News Paper !The Black Panther" was first circulated in 1967. Also that year the Black Panther marched on the California State Capitol in Sacramento in protest of a selection ban on weapons. By 1968 the party has expanded into many cities throughout the United States among them Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New Mark, New Orleans, New York City.  and then into smaller cities and towns.