Armed with sincerity, the words of revolutionaries such as Mao Tse-Tung and Malcolm X, law books, and rifles, The Black Panther Party fed the hungry, protected the weak from racist police, and presented a new paradigm of Black political and social activism. Founded in October 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California, the Party grew to at least 5,000 members nationwide, with chapters in more than half of American cities and an international branch in Algeria. Party members viewed themselves as "embodying the highest aspirations of a generation of radical African American youth" (Jones 78).

The Black Panther Party was involved in typical behavior associated with organizations during the Civil Rights Mo

Several factors that could have been changed led to the demise and virtual elimination of the Black Panther Party today. For one, the party was never able to distance itself from criminal elements. Drug use and crime sprees were rampant within the party. By the late seventies most of the party's original leaders had left or been expelled from the group. The Black Panther Party lost much of its support after newspaper articles appeared describing the illicit activities of party leaders, including extortion schemes directed against Oakland merchants. By the end of the 1970's, weakened by external attacks, legal problems, and internal divisions, the Black Panther Party was no longer a political force in American society.

The Black Panthers combined elements of socialism and Black Nationalism. The party's 1966 platform, outlined in their manifesto, best expresses their motivating factors. They wanted freedom and the power to determine their own destiny. They believed that the black community could not fully be free until they could do so. They wanted full employment for the African-Americans, believing that if white society would not give them full access to all job areas, that the black community had an obligation to seize the means of production and organize business to employ black citizens. In so doing, they would raise the standard of living for blacks. The Black Panther Party wanted to end what they called the "robbery of the black community by white capitalists." They demanded payment of the promise of forty acres and two mules promised them over 100 years earlier by Abraham Lincoln. They wanted decent housing, fit for any human being. They felt if the white landlords would not provide such, the government should aid them in building and maintaining proper housing for the black community. They advocated an end to the racially biased educational school system. They wanted the true history and role of blacks to be taught. The Black Pa

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