Black Panther Party

For the Shakurs, Black Liberation Became the Family Business

Santi Elijah Holley traces the lines connecting Afeni Shakur's Black Panther Party activism to the musical and political messages of her son Tupac. 

Exhibiting the Black Panthers' Ephemera

An exhibition of the radical group's posters illustrates the importance-and difficulty-of documenting political movements that used visual communications through ephemeral media like postering and newspapers. 

Stephen Shames's Photos Document the Lives and Activism of Black Panther Party Women

As a college student, Shames built trust with the members of the BPP and documented their activism. Now, working with former member Ericka Huggins, a book of those photos preserves the history. 

Ericka Huggins and Stephen Shames Team Up on Photographic History of Black Panther Women

Looking beyond iconic and high-profile women in the movement, a new book examines the organizing energy ordinary Black women brought to, and the empowerment they often took from, the Black Panther Party.

Learn Lessons about Movement Building from Radical Black Women

by Keisha N. Blain, Premilla Nadasen and Robyn C. Spencer

Barbara Ransby facilitates a roundtable collaborative essay about the role of women in building radical movements for justice in Black communities encompassing social welfare, economic security, police accountability, women's liberation and more. 

Black Power and Anti-Carceral State Infrastructure

by Joshua L. Crutchfield

Mutual aid groups that formed in response to the COVID pandemic echo the ways that participants in the Black Freedom movement sought to create alternative instititutions for the benefit of communities and individuals that did not reinforce the power of the police. 

The Black Panther Party Has Never Been More Popular. But Actual Black Panthers Have Been Forgotten

"What do veteran Panthers—some of whom are now at an advanced age and fighting to make ends meet after spending more than half their lives in prison—think of this recent boom in artistic and commercial interest?"

Revolution is Illegal: Revisiting the Panther 21 at 50

by Orisanmi Burton

"To revisit the history of the BPP is to experience the rhyme of history. Yet, the refrain is not a pleasant one."

The Real Black Panthers

Historian Donna Murch joins NPR's The Throughline to discuss the Black Panther Party's agenda and its targeting by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. 

Sounds of Freedom: The Music of Black Liberation

Shana Redmond and Rickey Vincent discuss their research, which deals with the ways that musical expression has been integrated into the politics of Black freedom in different moments (and different musical styles, including the Black Panther Party's own funk band). 

The Forgotten Film That Paved The Way For This Year’s Oscars Contenders

by Rebecca Prime

For the 1968 film "Uptight!," white director Jules Dassin enlisted Ruby Dee and Julian Mayfield to remake the 1935 film "The Informer" around the Black Panther Party, a move which drew on all three principals' experiences with surveillance over political activism and provoked a sabotage effort by the FBI.

Newly Obtained FBI Files Shed New Light on the Murder of Fred Hampton

by Aaron J. Leonard and Conor A. Gallagher

New documents shed further light on the involvement of the FBI in the 1969 assassination of Chicago Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, who is the subject of the new film "Judas and the Black Messiah." 

With Free Medical Clinics and Patient Advocacy, the Black Panthers Created a Legacy in Community Health That Still Exists Amid COVID-19

by Olivia B. Waxman and Arpita Aneja

Sociologist and social movement historian Alondra Nelson explains that Black Panther Party community action to provide health services grew out of a mistrust of mainstream health institutions' willingness to direct resources to the needs of poor Black communities, a mistrust that remains today. 

Is This the Most Radical Film Ever Produced by Hollywood?

“Judas and the Black Messiah” is the rare Hollywood film to explore a vision of Blackness that has nothing to do with white audiences.

The Unsettling Message of "Judas and the Black Messiah"

by Elizabeth Hinton

The film "brings the disparities engendered by a surveillance state into focus, leaving audiences to wonder what this country would look like if the war on white supremacy were fought with the same implacable intensity as the one against the Black Panther Party some 50 years ago."

Why Fred Hampton Needs to Be on Your Kids’ American History Syllabus

Writer and poet Scott Woods developed a political consciousness watching a 1971 documentary on the assassination of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. He was prepared to be disappointed by the new "Judas and the Black Messiah" but argues the film tells a story that is more important than ever.

"Judas and the Black Messiah" Is an American Tragedy

The performances of the lead actors in "Judas and the Black Messiah" elevate the story of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton's assassination by the police and FBI to a complex story of the Black freedom movement. 

Why a Shootout Between Black Panthers and Law Enforcement 50 Years Ago Matters Today

by Paul Ringel

A 50 year-old police attack on members of the High Point chapter of the Black Panther Party has been largely forgotten, but it shows the historical development of a pattern of law enforcement that targets Black militants and allows white supremacist radicals free rein. 

What ‘Defund the Police’ Really Means

by Simon Balto

The debate about "defunding police" must return to the community-driven vision of activists like assassinated Black Panther Fred Hampton, who envisioned a program of community empowerment that could divert the vast resources spent on policing toward other social ends. 

Jakobi Williams, “​The Black Panthers, Here and Abroad”

Historian Jakobi Williams discusses the community-based organizing of the Black Panther Party and its national and global influence.