Founder of the Black Panther Party Huey P Newton A Forgotten Legacy
In 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 classism. He is the man whose intellectual capacity and community leadership abilities helped to found 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 perpetuated 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 Movemen
Floyd W. Hayes and Francis A. Kiene, "All Power to the People," in The Black Panther Party Reconsidered, ed. Charles E. Jones ( Black Classic Press: Baltimore, 1998,) 159 Black Panther historians have conducted little research investigating the specific reasons for the omission 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 demise, 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 others acts as beacon 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 US government resists against it. Huey P. Newton's legacy of the Black Panther Party lives on. James Kirby Martin et. All, America and Its Peoples (New York:Longman, 1997) 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.
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Approximate Word count = 3167
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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