Black Panther Timeline

## Overview

In this project we took the top 20 events from 1968-1972 in the Black Panther Party History. Included on this page are a photo of the timeline itself as well as a description for each event that we included on the timeline. The goal of this page is to inform the readers of the important events from this movement so they can understand their history a little more.

## Events

### Early 1968 Black Panther Party Starts Selling Mao's Little Red Book

The Black Panther Party sold Mao’s Little Red Book in order to raise money for shotguns. Mao’s Little Red Book is a compilation of quotes and speeches by Mao, one of the former chairmen of the Chinese Communist Party, that share and emphasize his ideology. As new members joined, there was a consistent need for new guns for the members to carry.  It was one of the most effective fundraisers they did. At the beginning of 1968, the Party made it to where the book was required reading.

### April 6, 1968 Bobby Hutton Shot Dead

On April 6, 1968, in West Oakland, Bobby Hutton, who was 17 years old, was shot dead by Oakland police. There was a 90 minute gun fight between the police, Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby and twelve other panther members. Two officers were injured during the fight. Bobby was killed as the police set his house on fire and he was forced to run into a spray of bullets even though he was unarmed. He ended up being shot ten times. The Black Panthers of Oakland had to find a new treasurer in the following days and weeks.

### November 24, 1968 The Cleaver's Flee The US

Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver fled the United States on November 24, 1968. They first went and visited Cuba and Paris. Soon after they went to Algeria and eventually settled there. Algeria was also the place Fred Hampton was told to go because Eldridge actually ended up starting a Black Panther International Chapter there.

### January 1969 Free Breakfast Program Started

The Black Panthers created a free breakfast for children program that was launched in Oakland at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church. They began feeding children in January of 1969. By the end of that year, the Panthers had built kitchens and pantries in multiple cities throughout the nation. The program fed over 10,000 children breakfast at school every single day. They believed that if a kid was not hungry, that kid could learn better and go further.

### 1969 FBI Statement

In 1969, the Federal Bureau of Investigation decided to declare the Black Panther Party a communist organization and therefore, an enemy of the United States government. While they did believe in certain ideals of that type of government and sold Mao’s Little Red Book as a required reading, they were not a dangerous enemy of the United States. They just proposed a change within the system and social nerves.

### 1970 Alex Rackley Trial

Fourteen New Haven Black Panthers Party Members were arrested and put on trial for the murder of Alex Rackley in 1970. The leaders thought he was an FBI informant and wanted information. One of the torture methods they used was pouring boiling water on his every time he did not talk of they thought he was lying. He told them what they wanted to hear so that the pain would stop. However, they then shot him and dumped his body in the river. The leaders had actually kept a tape of the interrogation which was a bad idea as that was then used as evidence against them.

### Summer of 1970 NSCC and Black Panther Party Split

The alliance between the Black Panthers Party and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee began falling into pieces in the summer of 1970. This was because the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee lost all of their 130 workers and by three years later, the entire organization had been dissolved.

### 1969 Seale Indictment

In 1969, Seale was indicted in Chicago for protesting during the Democratic national convention of last year. The court absolutely would absolutely not allow Seale to choose winning lawyers. As Seale repeatedly stands up during the show trial to argue his rights that he is being denied his constitutional right to counsel, the judge orders him bound and gagged. He is convicted on 16 counts of contempt and sentenced to four years in prison, all without the ability to defend himself or even speak.

### 1969 J. Edgar Hoover Statement

In 1969, the head of the FBI, J Edgar Hoover stated that the Black Panther Party was “the greatest threat to national security”. He spent a great deal of time trying to infiltrate, undermine, and break apart the Black Panther Party. Many times he would try to get Panthers to turn on each other or get gangs to turn on them.

### December 4 1969 Fred Hampton Killed

On December 4th, 1969, at 4:30 a.m., fourteen plain-clothed Chicago police officers burst into Fred Hampton’s apartment and started spraying bullets everywhere. There were ninety-nine shots fired by the police and one fired by Mark Clark. Four of the Black Panthers were critically wounded by the fire. Mark Clark was shot through the heart.  Hampton was gunned down in his bed as he was drugged previously and couldn’t wake up. His fiancé, who was eight months pregnant, had to listen to the police mock him as they shot him twice. The Panthers that lived were charged with assault of police officers.

### December 1969 Southern California Office Raid

In December of 1969 in southern California the police force raided a Black Panther headquarters. This raid lasted roughly 5 hours and resulted as almost every raid did - prisoners and death. Ultimately, this raid took place after Fred Hampton died.

### December 8 1969 Los Angeles Headquarter Raid

On December 8, 1969 the Los Angeles Police Department raided the Los Angeles Headquarters. This raid was driven by the fact that Fred Hampton had been killed earlier that week and the force wanted to work at dismembering the Black Panther Party seeing as one of the leading forces in this movement had been killed.

### 1969-1970 Breakfast Program

Involved with the Black Panther Party is the Breakfast Food Program that they use to provide food to school age kids within the African American Community. By the end of 1969 and the start of 1970 this program had fed as many as 20,000 children. On average this is equivalent to roughly 55 children a day if not more. Seeing as this was a local program that ran off of donations and party funds, what they accomplished was unheard of.

### March 1970 Seize the Time

In march 1970 Bobby Seale published his book Seize the time from prison. This book was written in a prose style. Bobby wrote this based on his involvement within the Black Panther Party (BPP). It discusses the different aspects of the party such as leadership and the rules that they followed. It also acts as a first hand account for all of the information that he shares from when he was a decision maker for the party.

### 1970 Huey Newton Conviction

Prior to 1970 Huey Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 2 to 15 years in prison; however, by 1970 the conviction was appealed and overturned on procedural errors. The reason for the conviction in the first place was the fact that Huey Newton had “shot” Frey.

### 1971 Seale Charged Again

In 1971 while Bobby Seale was  in jail he was charged again for killing a cop. The supposed murder had occurred in years past but was drug back up seeing as he was a national figure at this time. The trial around this charge ended with a hung jury. Ultimately though these charges were never carried out and Seale is still alive to this day.

### 1971 COINTELPRO Disbanded

COINTELPRO was an FBI organization that was used to infiltrate and gather information on the Black Panther Party. This organization was retired in April 1971 after starting in 1956. While COINTELPRO was running covert operations it was responsible for the Fred Hampton raid as well as putting spies into the Black Panther Party which is how information was gathered. For this organization rules were not a requirement per say. Ultimately, this was a way for the FBI to work outside of the law. Majority of the work they did was based on how much money they were willing to pay for information.

### March 29, 1972 Survival Conference Food Giveaway

On March 29, 1972 The Black Community Survival Conference was held at Oakland Civic Auditorium. This conference was different then other conferences seeing as it gave away roughly 10,000 bags of food to those who attended. Some of the food that was included were canned goods as well as chicken.

### 1972 Supreme Court Landmark Reporters Case

During 1972 the supreme court wound up deciding on a Landmark case that impacts life today. The Branzburg v. Hayes' court case discussed whether or not the first amendment could be used to shield reports from having to testify in court. Ultimately the decision fell 5-4 against the reporters thus reaffirming the fact that reporters must testify in court if called upon. This is still seen in society today.

### June 4, 1972 Bobby Seale And Elaine Brown Run For Candidacy

On June 4 1972 Bobby Seale announced he was going to run for mayor alongside Elaine Brown who was running for city council. Ultimately they both lost their race for candidacy; however they did build quite a bit of support within and around the African American community while they were running.

## Resources

Hampton

SNCC

New Haven Trial

Marxists.org

The Nation Newspaper

History.com

Britannica

Howard University

Calendar of History

Connecticut History

Cointelpro