Departmental Papers (ASC)
Title
Black Panther Party: 1966-1982
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of this Version
January 2000
Abstract
The Black Panther party was founded in Oakland, California, in 1966. From its beginnings as a local, community organization with a handful of members, it expanded into a national and international party. By 1980, however, the Black Panther party was once again mainly an Oakland-based organization, with no more than fifty active members. In 1982, the party came to an official end. Despite its relatively short history, its modest membership, and its general eschewing of electoral politics, the Black Panther party was arguably the best known and most controversial of the black militant political organizations of the 1960s, with a legacy that continues to this day.
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Date Posted: 09 January 2008
Comments
Reprinted from The Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America, edited by Immanuel Ness, James Ciment ; foreword by Frances Fox Piven, Armonke, NY: Sharpe Reference, 2000, pages 190-197.
NOTE: At the time of publication, the author Michael X. Delli Carpini was affiliated with Columbia University. Currently January 2008, he is a faculty member of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.