The Black Panther Party

Historical Context Essay

Rafael Torrubia (University of St Andrews)

Ed. by Christopher Hugh Gair, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Domains

Civil Rights
Protest movements and actions

Dates

Date of occurrence 1965-1980

Places

United States (Location)
Algeria (Involved)

Cultural Identities

African American

Resources

Recommended Reading

The Black Panther Party, extant from October 1966 until the early 1980s, epitomised the increasingly radical tenor of late 1960s civil rights. The Party embodied many aspects of the developing freedom struggle – a growing desire for militant action, a campaign for political and social equality, and an ethos based around profound reassessment of oneself and one’s relationship to the community. The Panthers’ seemingly contradictory blending of violent imagery with a rhetoric of community support has proved challenging for historians; to understand the Party’s complex composition, it is therefore imperative to first understand its origins.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October 1966, in Oakland, …

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3183 words

Citation: Torrubia, Rafael. "The Black Panther Party". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 March 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=16295, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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