Black Panther Movement Analysis

In the early 20th century, African Americans have had to face the ceaseless oppression and discrimination emanating from the white majority. A plethora of young African American men were often beaten, females raped, and both genders were lynched by policemen and white mobs. For numerous years, many political leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. fought relentlessly to protect and secure the civil rights of black citizens across the nation. In 1966, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party. The organization was initially formed for self-defense against the brutality of the policemen in Oakland, California. The Black Panther Party focused on social reform such as feeding hungry children, helping people in poverty, and providing

The FBI director J. Edgar Hoover proclaimed the black panthers as “the greatest threat to the internal security on the United States.” Hoover’s statement was a negative stereotype because he referred the African Americans as dangerous and violent due to their behaviors and actions. He also viewed that African Americans were inferior to the whites. J. Edgar Hoover judged the members of the Black Panther Party by its appearances, behaviors, and characteristics.

According to Diana Kendall, “a social movement is an organized group that acts consciously to promote or resist change through collective action.” In other words, social movements are a type of large group action. Social movements are large organizations. Members of a social movement focus on specific social issues such as poverty or inequality.

The Black Panther Party was a social movement because it was an organized movement with specific goals. The party was not short-lived because the black panthers lasted a few years. The Black Panther Party was a nationwide organization in the United States. The party relied on thousands of volunteers to carry out the work like protests and programs. There were hundreds of women in the Black Panther Party because many of them were members of the party. Lastly, the Black Panther Party was a social movement because it promoted social equality and resisted police brutality for African Americans in

It was about the Black Panther Party being a social movement in the United States. The black panthers had taught us to monitor cops and stop police violence toward innocence people. They also had taught us about protecting our communities because members of the Black Panther Party sacrificed their time, effort and families to protect their communities. Members of the party stopped going home to protect their families because they were afraid of the COINTELPRO and the FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. Lastly, I learned that the black panthers did their best to keep programs going for the community especially the breakfast program because the black panthers’ free breakfast program was one of their greatest recruitment tools. Overall the documentary of the black panthers did not question some of my preconceptions about the Black Panther Party because I did not know much about them before watching the