The Black Panther Party: An Essential Part Of The Black Power Movement

Freedom and expression wasn’t always what it is today for African-Americans. In the United States, African-Americans faced much discrimination even after the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. White supremacy was still prevalent and Black people were still seen as lesser than. This caused outrage that led to the Black Power Movement. “Black power's modern expression grew out of two distinct yet overlapping traditions that shaped black political activism in the first half of the twentieth century: The New Negro radicalism of the 1920s and the subsequent freedom surges - democratic movements that included labor, civil rights, and grassroots activists around the nation - of the Great Depression and World War II era that fueled an expansive vision of citizenship, civil rights, and democracy.” (Peniel 752). The Black Panther Party was a major part of this movement. What freedom and expression means to African-Americans in the Black Power Movement of the late 1960’s and the 1970’s is rejecting the White Establishment and embracing their own beauty and culture.

This group was formed to protect the African American community from police brutality and even murder. The Black Panther Party’s approach to this issue was not a non-violent one like it was in the Civil Rights Movement. The Black Panther party was far more aggressive, and some considered their group a form of terrorism. The exceedingly hostile relationship between local law enforcement and black residents provided the pressing impetus for rapid neighborhood mobilization (Dellums and Halterman 2000:11). The Black Panther Party is a symbol of the want for freedom, and to them freedom was something that had to be obtained by any means