FREE ESSAY ON HUEY P. NEWTON AND THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY

HUEY P. NEWTON AND THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY

During the late 1960's and early '70's posters of the Black Panther Party's co-founder,
Huey P. Newton were plastered on walls of college dorm rooms across the country. Wearing
a black beret and a leather jacket, sitting on a wicker chair, a spear in one hand and a
rifle in the other, the poster depicted Huey Newton as a symbol of his generation's anger
and courage in the face of racism and imperialism (Albert and Hoffman 4, 45). His
intellectual capacity and community leadership abilities helped to founded the Black
Panther Party (BPP). Newton played an instrumental role in refocusing civil rights
activists to the problems of urban Black communities. He also tapped the rage and
frustration of urban Blacks in order to address social injustice. However, the FBI's
significant fear of the Party's aggressive actions would not only drive the party apart
but also create false information regarding the Panther's programs and accomplishments.
In recent years, historians have devoted much attention of the early 1960's, to Malcolm X
and Martin Luther King and have ignored the Black Panthers. The Panthers and Huey P.
Newton's leadership of the Party are as significant to the Black freedom struggle as more
widely known leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. A typical American history high school
textbook not only neglects to mention Huey Newton but also disregards the existence of
the Black Panthers altogether. Therefore, we must open this missed chapter in American
history and discover the legacy and story of Huey P. Newton.
Huey's experiences growing up were centered in his conception of the Black Panthers.
Unlike King and many other civil rights leaders who were religious Southerners, from
middle class and well-educated families, Huey P. Newton was a working class man from a
poor urban black neighborhood. Born February 17, 1942, in Oak Grove Louisiana, Huey moved
to Oakland, California when he was just two years old. During childhood, his baby face,
light complexion, medium height, squeaky voice and his name Huey, forced him to learn how
to fight early on in life. Huey's remarkable quick wit and strength earned him the
respect of his peers and the reputation of being a tough guy (Seale 40). Upon his
enrollment at Merrit College Huey's academic achievements quickly began to surpass other
students, while at the same time he was still able to relate to those he grew up with on
the streets of Oakland. Autobiographer, Hugh Pearson in Shadow of the Panther reports
that Huey remained comfortable on the street corners with young Negro men who drank wine
all day...and fought one another - young men whom most college-bound Negroes shied away
from (Pearson 115).  Huey's ability and desire to develop his intellect and receive a
college education while still identifying with his peers on the street played an
influential role in his effective leadership in the Black Panther Party. Early in life
Huey experienced regular hostility from local police. He recalled going to the movies as
a child where the police would often force him out of the theatre and call him a nigger.
Huey reflected upon the mis-treatment in his book To Die for the People; The police were
very brutal to us even at that age (Newton 53). Police harassment and physical abuse of
Black people became part of every day life for many Blacks across the country. Although
the Civil Rights movement was mainly a Southern phenomenon, the non-violent ideology and
integrationist focus of the movement became according to historians Floyd W. Hayes and
Francis A. C. Kiene as sources of increasing frustration and disillusionment for many
Blacks in Northern and Western cities (Hayes and Kiene 159) . As the Civil Rights
Movement approached the end of the 1960's northern Blacks became angered by the
television coverage of police beatings, incarcerations of Southern non-violent Blacks,
employment discrimination along with the police brutalities in Northern Black
neighborhoods (Brooks 136). Huey Newton recalls in his autobiography Revolutionary
Suicide, We had seen Martin Luther King come to Watts in an effort to calm the people and
we have seen his philosophy of nonviolence rejected. Black people had been taught
nonviolence; it was deep in us. What good, however, was nonviolence when the police were
determined to rule by force. Newton and other urban Black people believed nonviolence was
ineffective in the South and in the North. This view serves as the catalyst for the
development of the increasing popular, radical approach of Black power (Newton 115).
It was against this backdrop that Huey attended Merritt College where the idea for the
Black Panther Party would be born. At Merrit College Huey met Bobby Seale who would soon
become Huey's co-founder of the BPP. The initial friendship between Huey and Bobby proved
quite productive, as they both shared the frustrations of social injustices towards the
Oakland Black community. Together, they initiated a drive to organize the African
American students on campus by creating the Soul Students Advisory Council
(SSAC)(Burroughs and Vassell 1). This new organization soon fell apart when they wouldn't
agree on a common agenda. Some favored lobbying and protesting to bring Black Studies
into the college curriculum while others (including Huey and Bobby) proposed the SSAC's
organize an event dubbed Brothers On the Block that would bring an armed squad of urban
youths onto campus, in commemoration of Malcolm X's birthday, the year after his
assassination. The death of Malcolm X was yet another event which led Black youth to
question the traditional leadership of the Civil Rights Movement and its philosophy of
nonviolence. It is out of this change of the movement's focus where Huey arrives at the
idea for Black youth to openly display weapons. This action would be soon to serve as a
founding principal within the Panthers. Eventually serving as a founding principal of the
Panthers, Huey's suggestion for a demonstration of armed protest was inspired by Malcolm
X's philosophy for self-defense. The SSAC's rejection of Brothers On the Block,
eventually led to Huey and Bobby's resignation from the Campus Organization. Fed up with
the increasing police brutality towards African Americans and the SSAC rejection of
Brothers On the Block, Huey and Bobby decided to form an organization to monitor police
behavior in black neighborhoods and protect the rights of African Americans. This
organization was the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP). The Panthers stormed
into American history in 1966 when Huey P. Newton wrote the platform for the party. The
platform made an aggressive call for power to determine the destiny of our black
community.... with the immediate emphasis on the need for organizing black defense
groups...to end police brutality. Huey and Bobby created a uniform for the Panthers
demonstrating the seriousness and discipline of the Party's platform. The Black Panthers'
first action was to follow Oakland Police cars, either on foot or in cars, while dressed
in black pants, black leather jackets, starched blue shirts and black berets, carrying
loaded shot guns. The Oakland Black community's response to the new Panther Party was
intense. The BPP's uniform and operations served as a testament that Blacks could stand
up to the police. Sundiata Acoli, an ex-panther said that one of the Panthers' greatest
accomplishments was that the party created an image of Black manhood that people could be
proud of (Acoli 1). Huey had a profound knowledge of political thought and a unique grasp
of social issues. His sharp thinking led him to create an organization to building Blacks
confidence and self-esteem. As the Party's chief theoretician, Huey's thinking and the
Black Panther outlook are significant because they represent the continuation of radical
African American political thought, which dates back to W.E.B. Du Bois. Huey demonstrated
a remarkable ability to understand complex social philosophies. Huey spent a significant
amount of time analyzing political theory while he studied at Merritt College. Influenced
by Malcolm X's nationalism, Frantz Fanon's and Che Guevara's theory of revolutionary
violence along with Marx's theory of socialism and revolutionary change, he used their
social philosophies as a foundation for the Party's Platform. In essence, Huey realized
from Fanon's article that if you don't engage those whom society has labeled as a
delinquent then these delinquents would become an organized threat to the Panthers. In
organizing Panthers Huey tapped the determination and readiness for revolution among
societies' outcasts. Huey's deliberate recruitment of young blacks that engaged in
robbery and other crimes into the party, testifies to his commitment to uniting and
empowering all Blacks in a movement in which they could play an important role in the
quest for social change. Based on Huey P. Newton's sharp social analysis he formed an
inclusive Party that united African Americans in a collective effort demonstrating a
power that they didn't know existed within them. In addition, Huey's ability to support
his rhetorical statements with examples let him stand out among the other leaders of the
Black Power Movement. The Panthers engaged young people who had given up society that
they could make a difference and stop the daily brutality of police, which haunted many
cities ( Acoli 1) . Hugh Pearson argues that the Panthers 'in your face' action has
shaped the way police officers act in neighborhoods today. 
The party's message spread across the country like wildfire, engaging young Blacks in
Northern Black communities. Branches of the Party in New York, Chicago and Oakland worked
with gangs, trying to turn them away from violence and into community organizing ( Acoli
2). Vincent Harding historian of the civil rights movement said: "The Panthers offered
the young urban black male a purpose in their life. They were saying to these folks, 'you
are not simply society's problems. You have the potential to enter the struggle to
reorganize society." Huey insisted that BPP address the immediate needs of urban African
Americans, helping them maintain their current situations until they had the chance to
rise above their financial and social hardships. Beginning in Oakland in 1969 the
survival programs included breakfast programs for schoolchildren, clothing and food
giveaways, escort services for the elderly and health care services, which offered
sickle-cell anemia testing and research (Burroughs and Vassell 2). Due to its success,
survival programs spread to all of the Panther chapters across the country. 
In addition, Huey created the Black Panther Community News Service, a weekly community
newspaper that several branches distributed to inform member of Party activism, events
and philosophies. By 1970 the paper has a distribution of 125,000 copies. Sold for 25
cents per issue, the paper provided the major source of revenue for the Panthers. Panther
chapters also had been involved in local community struggles for decent housing, welfare
rights, citizens' police review panel, Black history classes, and traffic lights on
dangerous intersections in Black neighborhoods. The Black Panther Party's creation of
survival programs allowed Blacks to unite and take responsibility for their community.
The community service activities of the Black Panther Party contributed to the public
safety and welfare of Black urban individuals arguing that the Panthers' s breakfast
program was the originator for free public school breakfasts and lunches. The survival
programs also granted poorer Black citizens with security, food, clothing, political
influence and an education (Acoli 2). While Huey primarily focused on improving Black
People's self-esteem and quality of life, he also advocated the commitment for the
respect and dignity of all individuals of all races, genders and sexual orientations. The
media and white people assumed that since the Black Panther Party was a Black Nationalist
Organization, they hated white people. Unlike other organizations within the Black
Liberation Movement, the Black Panthers had several biracial alliances (Acoli 2). 
The first alliance created in 1967 with the Peace and Freedom Party (PFP). Huey approved
the BPPs working with the Peace and Freedom Party to collect signatures for getting PFP
candidates on the California ballot. Moreover, The Black Panthers were early advocates of
homosexual rights during the very early stages of the gay rights movement. Placing of gay
rights on the 1970 agenda of the BPP distinguishes the role the Panthers play in American
history. This role definitely contradicts the media's image of the BPP. Huey P. Newton
made a historic statement encouraging members of Black community to refrain from language
that would turn our friends (referring to gays) off. Newton also said we must relate to
the homosexual movement, because it is the real thing. Newton also believed that gays
could very well be the most oppressed group of people in America (Newton 53). Alycee Lane
and William B. Kelley, two prominent gays activists, praised the Panthers for becoming
the first non-gay Black organization and radical group to compare the struggle of gays
and Blacks and request that they work together to bring about change. As a result of
Newton's stand on gay rights and racial justice, many grassroots organizations were
created. Some of these organizations were based on the Panther philosophy such as the
Brown Berets, a Chicago-based Puerto Rican civil rights group. 
While the Black Panthers restored hope among many Blacks and strived to improve the
conditions of other marginalized groups, the Black Panther Party also frightened people.
The Panthers represented many aspects of what some people feared in the Black struggle
for Civil Rights. The Panthers symbolized what ex-panther and political prisoner;
Sundiata Acoli calls the United States racial nightmare. This nightmare had this country
so polarized by racism that Blacks would take up guns against whites in armed rebellion.
J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI denied that Black Panther Party's stated purpose was
to protect the community. Police Officers were in fact terrified of the Panthers.
Carrying law books and equipped with tape recorders Panthers would follow the police
around during their beats. Huey implemented Panther's monitoring police's behavior by
pointing out legal violations to them and documenting unjust police action. As the BPP
rapidly grew across the nation, the Panthers threatened police from local, state and
federal branches of government. COINTELPRO's intervention called for a quick collapse of
the BPP. The increasing success of the Black Panther Party prompted the FBI to believe
the BPP was the most likely to become a catalyst for a mass united Black violent
uprising. 
On September 8, 1968, J. Edgar Hoover let it be known in the pages of the New York Times
that he considered the Panthers the single greatest threat to the internal security of
the country. Therefore FBI launched a counter-intelligence program over the Black
Panthers, which sought to disrupt and neutralize the number of what he called Black
Nationalist Hate Groups. COINTELPRO was responsible for the murders and beating of
hundreds of Panthers. In 1969, practically every branch and chapter of the Black Panther
Party throughout the United States was attacked not less than once and as much as many as
five times. COINTELPRO called for federal, state and local police to eliminate the Party
(Acoli 3). The FBI sent agent William O'Neal to act as a spy and become a BPP member of
the Chicago chapter. Eventually O'Neal became a BPP bodyguard to charismatic chairman of
Chicago branch, Fred Hampton. O'Neal's murder of Hampton earned him a $300.00 bonus from
the FBI. COINTELPRO also attempted several assassination attempts on to Huey. The murder
of several branch leaders as well as the destruction of BPP headquarters and survival
programs led to the Parties demise by 1973 (Churchill and Vanderwall 58). Black Panther
historians have conducted little research investigating the specific reasons for the
destruction of the Black Panthers and Huey P. Newton in American history. However, it is
likely that the FBI's opinion and brutal destruction of the Party along with the negative
coverage by the media of the BPP, has instilled Americans with a negative attitude
towards the Black Panther Party causing them to feel that the Party is deeply rooted in
violence and crime. 
But before their ending, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was able to make a huge
impact on America, both physically and inspirationally. Huey's ability to think
critically while analyzing the needs of people acts as a ray of hope for others committed
to social change. The Black Panthers brought attention to the problems of the
African-American community in America, and the issue of police brutality, at the time of
the large urban riots of 1968, and Martin Luther King's assassination. Their free
breakfast program provided meals to 200,000 children daily. Most amazingly they proved
that grassroots movements could make a difference, even when the United States government
denies it. Huey P. Newton's legacy of the Black Panther Party lives on in preaching's and
teachings of this countries civil rights activist today. 
Bibliography
Albert, Peter and Hoffman, Ronald. We Shall Overcome. New York: Pantheon Books, 
1990.
Brooks, Thomas. Walls Come Tumbling Down. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1974.
Churchill, Ward and Vanderwall, James. Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars 
Against The Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. New York:
South End Press, 1988.
Hayes, Floyd and Kiene, Francis. All Power to the People. Baltimore: Black Classic 
Press, 1998.
Newton, Huey P. Revolutionary Suicide. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1979.
Newton, Huey P. To Die for the People. New York: Writers and Readers Pub., 1973.
Pearson, Hugh. The Shadow of the Panther. Massachusetts: Addison Wesley, 1994.
Seale, Bobby. Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton.
Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1994.
"A Brief History of the Black Panther Party." Sundiata Acoli Home Page. 2000 Online.
Internet. http://www.cs.oberlin.edu/students/pjaques/etext/acoli-hist-bpp.html 
29 Oct. 2000
"History of the Black Panther Party." Black Panther Party. 2000 Online. Internet. 
Available http://www.afroam.org/history/Panthers/Newton/Newton.html
29 Oct. 2000
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