The Black Panther Party

What was the Black Panther Party?

The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, student activists of Merritt College in Oakland, CA. Its ideology was heavily inspired by Malcolm X, Frantz Fanon, and orthodox Marxism.

The Black Panther Party logo

Black Panther article in Black Scholar Journal on JSTOR

Black Panther Party Books

There are many books about the Black Panther Party, some of which are collections of their writings, artwork, speeches, etc. Many members have also written memoirs of their experience in the group. You can search the Library catalog to see material available through the Pratt (and Marina Interlibrary Loan, for materials available to borrow from other library systems). To see the widest possible selection, as also recommend searching on subjects such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and Black Nationalism.
 

Key People

Find information, primary sources, and more on key members of the Black Panther party.

• Brown, Elaine
• Douglas, Emory
• Cleaver, Eldridge
• Hilliard, David
• Cleaver, Kathleen
• Newton, Huey P.
• Davis, Angela
• Seale, Bobby

Databases

The library subscribes to several databases that may be helpful in your research. You will have to login with your library card in order to access them remotely.

• For additional news articles: Maryland Newspapers and Black Newspaper Archives
• For encyclopedia articles: Virtual Reference Library
• For articles from academic journals: JSTOR

The Black Panther newspaper is available from the Black Thought and Culture database

Black Panther video still from the Bay Area TV Archive

General Resources

• Black Panther Party Collection - The Bay Area Television Archive: Local news film and privately produced footage relating to the Black Panther Party's Oakland Chapter, from the 1960s & 70s.
• The Black Panther: Newspaper of the Black Panther Party: Twenty issues of the paper made available in PDF format.
• FBI Records— The Vault: Release of investigative files that tracked the "militant activities, income, and expenses" of the Charlotte chapter. Also, files on Fred Hampton, Huey P Newton, Stokely Carmichael, and ones associated with COINTELPRO, particularly Black Extremist.
• MSU Libraries: Digital Collections: Black Panthers: Various documents about and/or created by the Black Panther Party.
• Seattle Black Panther Party History and Memory Project: Essays, video oral histories, digitized news articles, photographs, documents created by the members, and a section on the 1970 congressional investigation.