The Black Panther Party
Imagine after decades of fighting for freedom and equality you are still being punished by the majority of society. The Black Panther Party was an influential activist group that throughout its time, and still today, is misunderstood by much of society. Both the Civil Rights movement and the Black Panther Party aimed to challenge racial discrimination and achieve greater equality for African Americans. Throughout American history, police brutality, as well as other factors, was very prominent and clearly targeted towards African Americans. It was a key factor that led to the formation of the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party that emerged during the 1960’s was characterized by black power and self defense,
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This can be shown through the police brutality activist, Malcom X, faced in his childhood. Despite living in the North, Malcom X endured a harsh childhood due to the police brutality his family was faced with. After moving into an all white neighborhood, their house was burned to ashes while they were sleeping. His father, not long after, was killed in a car accident believed to have been caused by the same white racists who burned down their house. To conclude, systemic racism, police brutality, and social inequality, since the end of Reconstruction, led to the beginning of the Black Panther …show more content…
A misconception about the Black Panther Party is that this group is violent which is not true for they implemented a lot of good. This includes having organized over 35 Survival Programs, providing community help such as education, providing transportation and ambulance assistance, manufacturing and distributing shoes and such to poor people, and more (Duncan). The Survival Programs they organized were often led by women which organized free breakfast for over 20,000 children each day, and free food programs for families and the elders (The Black Panther Party). As you can see, the Black Panther Party was a group heavily influenced by the works of Malcom X but much of their work aside from challenging police brutality is not widely known and recognized and/or