Black Panther Party Founded: Self-Defense Movement
Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland, California, on October 15, 1966, with a ten-point program demanding employment, housing, education, and an end to police brutality. Members conducted armed patrols of Oakland neighborhoods, legally carrying loaded weapons while monitoring police interactions with Black residents. The image of Black men in leather jackets and berets carrying shotguns terrified the establishment. The Panthers also ran free breakfast programs that fed 10,000 children daily, operated health clinics, and established liberation schools. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called them 'the greatest threat to internal security' and launched COINTELPRO operations that infiltrated, framed, and assassinated party members. Fred Hampton was killed in a Chicago police raid in 1969.
October 15, 1966
60 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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