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Black Power Movement (BPM) Timeline
OCTOBER 1966 The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (the party’s original name) was created by Newton and Seale. The earliest tasks of the Party included police patrolling and monitoring around the black communities of the Bay Area with hopes to prevent police brutality in these areas. Patrolers would listen to radio calls, flee to the place of the arrest, and inform the citizens of their constitutional rights.
JANUARY 1967 The weekly newspaper of the Black Panther Party was first published. Originally sold at 25 cents, the paper informed the public on internal news within the Party and news stories involving police brutality and social justice. The paper was controversial compared to mainstream press as the authors were very vocal about their work. It became incredibly popular, circulating around 250,000 copies at its peak point. The Black Panther was extremely effective at attracting new recruits as papers circulated throughout cities as the movement grew nationwide.
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MAY 2, 1967 The Mulford Bill was proposed to repeal the allowance of citizens to carry loaded weapons in public as long as they were in plain sight. Armed Black Panthers protested at the California state capitol in Sacramento, where the members read aloud Executive Mandate Number 1, opposing the Mulford Bill. Despite the protest, the bill passed; however, this stimulated the first instances of media attention to the Black Panthers. The member population significantly grew following this event, before there were only about 75 members.
MAY 15, 1967 The “What We Want Now!” Ten-Point program is published in The Black Panther newspaper. It addressed the party’s goals beyond ending police brutality, including freedom, education, housing, and more. The platform became essential for the Panthers as it outlined the practices for the members to live by, and the needs of the party for non-members to understand.
AUGUST 1967 COINTELPRO was a program initiated by the FBI, and was instructed to dismantle black nationalist groups, including the Black Panthers. COINTELPRO underwent a number of activities in hopes of deconstructing the party, such as creating rivalries within the party’s members by sending forged letters. The bureau struck heavily on the party’s community programs such as Free Breakfast for Children by harassing supporters and donors. The program took a special liking to the Panthers, as 233 of 296 actions against groups were targeted at the Panthers, by 1969.
OCTOBER 28, 1967 Huey Newton is convicted of shooting and killing John Frey of the Oakland Police Department. Shootings took place after Newton was stopped at a traffic check, leaving Newton and another officer wounded as well. Newton claimed he was unconscious when Frey was shot, but spent three years in jail until his conviction was overturned. During his trial and time in prison, the “Free Huey” campaign drew national attention to the Black Panthers, and allowed for the party to create strong bonds with other political organizations throughout the country.
APRIL 4-6, 1968 On the fourth, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, creating civil unrest throughout the United States for days following his death. Marches and protests, peaceful and violent, took place in cities nationwide, in what became “the greatest wave of social unrest since the Civil War”. On the sixth, a 17-year-old Black Panther named Bobby Hutton was shot and killed during a shootout with a group of Oakland Police officers. Hutton was the first party member to be killed by police.
LATE 1968 The Black Panther Party reached its peak, with over 35 chapters nationwide and around 5000 members. The majority of the group focused on political action at this point in time; however, there were always disagreements between members about their key interests for the party. Slogans of the party spread; celebrities publicly endorsed and donated to the Black Panthers, and American medalists gave the black power salute during that year’s Summer Olympics.
1969
The importance of education was supported by the Black Panthers and even outlined in the Ten-Point Program. The Liberation School Initiative created after-school programs, and later full-time schools throughout the US. The schools provided an education from a non-traditional perspective, and focused on black history and culture that was primarily excluded from a mainstream school. The largest school, named the Oakland Community School, reached enrollment as high as 150.
LATE 1969 Seale is arrested for conspiracy to incite riots during the Democratic National Convention the previous year. David Hilliard leads the party, and endorses violent revolution. Disputes escalated, violence and tortures occured, and differences heightened within the party. Membership was declining drastically compared to the peak during 1968.
EARLY 1970 Black Panther members travel to Asia, developing relations with leaders of China, North Vietnam, and North Korea with the goal of ending American imperialism in mind. Ideas shared throughout anti-imperialist conferences in Asia included self-reliance, autonomy, and adapted Marxism-Leninism ideals. Strong alliances were built between the Black Panther Party and a few governments of Asia.
THROUGHOUT 1970 Disagreements between leaders of the party cause factions within the party to be created. A portion wanted to focus on social and communal services while the other portion wanted to focus on police antagonisation. The split caused Eldridge Cleaver, editor of the newspaper, to lead a splinter group that became violent with the Black Panthers, resulting in deaths on both sides. Many members quit the party.
EARLY 1972 Newton closed down chapters all over the country, and called key members back to Oakland. The Black Panthers sought to have roles in office. Seale ran for mayor, but lost to Oakland’s incumbent. A few members take small roles in commissions of the government, but the party continues to disintegrate.
WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.
WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
3. WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY
BY THE CAPITALISTS OF OUR BLACK
AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of our fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.
4. WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR
THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.
We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.
The Ten Point Plan (cont.)
5. WE WANT DECENT EDUCATION FOR
OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE
TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT
AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT
EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR
TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE
PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.
We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of the self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and in the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.
6. WE WANT ALL BLACK MEN TO BE
EXEMPT FROM MILITARY SERVICE
We believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military, by whatever means necessary.
