Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated by dragging the pointer on the timeline bar, located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile. To filter by a specific topic, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. To learn more, click “Read More” below.

Read More
Black women with afros in two lines on a grassy field, their arms extending as if clapping.
Women in the Black Panther Party at a rally (1969). (Photo: Pirkle Jones and Ruth Marion-Baruch).

The Black Panther Party is formed.

1966

RES
BH
Women in the Black Panther Party at a rally (1969). (Photo: Pirkle Jones and Ruth Marion-Baruch).

In 1966, Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton found the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland, California.

They build a Black Power grassroots organizing movement rooted in socialism and Marxism; and a revolutionary political critique of white supremacy, government, colonization, and capitalism as an extension of slavery and colonization.

Some of the party's political projects include: Freedom Schools, Free Breakfast for Children, and mobile health clinics for the Black community. Their work is all founded on the principles of their 10-Point Program to build freedom and the autonomy for Black people to determine their own destiny.