The Black Panther Party Of Self Defense, October 15, 1966

Pictured: Original six members of the Black Panther Party (1966)

Top left to right: Elbert "Big Man" Howard, Huey P. Newton, (Defense Minister), Sherwin Forte,

 Bobby Seale, (Chairman), Bottom: Reggie Forte and Little Bobby Hutton, (Treasurer).

On this day, two comrades, Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, sat down an wrote a Ten Point Plan that laid the foundation for The Black Panther Party Of Self Defense. 

The Black Panther Party (BPP) was a progressive political organization that stood in the vanguard of the most powerful movement for social change in America since the

Revolution of 1776 and the Civil War: that dynamic episode generally referred to as The Sixties. It is the sole Black organization in the entire history of Black struggle against

slavery and oppression in the United States that was armed and promoted a revolutionary agenda, and it represents the last great thrust by the masses of Black people for equality,

justice, and freedom. 

The Party’s ideals and activities were so radical that it was at one time labeled by FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover as “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States.” And despite the demise of the Party, its history and lessons remain so challenging and controversial that established texts and media erase all reference to the Party from their portrayals of American history.

The Black Panther Party was the manifestation of the vision of Huey P. Newton, the seventh son of a Louisiana family transplanted to Oakland, California. In the wake of the

assassination of Black leader Malcolm X, on the heels of the massive Black, urban uprising in Watts, California, and at the height of the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

In October of 1966, Newton gathered a few of his longtime friends, including Bobby Seale and David Hilliard, and developed a skeletal outline for this organization. It was named, originally, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.

The black panther was used as the symbol because it was a powerful image, one that had been used effectively by the short-lived voting rights group the Lowndes County

(Alabama) Freedom Organization. 

The term “self-defense” was employed to distinguish

the Party’s philosophy from the dominant nonviolent theme of the Civil Rights Movement, and in homage to the civil rights group the Louisiana-based Deacons for Defense. These

two symbolic references were, however, where all similarity between the Black Panther Party and other Black organizations of the time, the civil rights groups and Black power groups, ended.

Source:
http://www.civilrightsteaching.org/Handouts/BPPhandout.pdf

Remembering The Ancestors

We Must Never Forget their many contributions - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, which has brought us to where we are TODAY.

And while we continue to struggle for Equity and Social Justice in a Society full of Hate and Racism, we must FOREVER Recognize Our Own Who Died So That We Could Live! 

Their Courage, Fearlessness, Self-Determination, and Resilience will Never Be Forgotten.

We Must Re Member, Re Claim, Re Construct, and Re Educate OUR STORY!

Chinue X, 

Founder

On This Day In TCXPI History

Kwame Nkrumah, Prime Minister and the First President of Ghana, was born in Nkroful, Gold Coast (now Ghana) on September 21, 1909.

In 1935, Kwame Nkrumah came to the United States to further his education, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1939 and his Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree in 1942 from Lincoln University and his Master of Science degree in 1942 and his Masters of Arts degree in philosophy in 1943 from the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1947, Kwame Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast and became the leader of the United Gold Coast Convention which was working on independence from the British.

In 1950, the colonial administration arrested and sentenced Kwame Nkrumah to three years in jail for his political activities. As the result of international protests and internal resistance, he was released from jail in 1951 and elected Prime Minister of the Gold Coast in 1952.

On March 6, 1957, Nkrumah declared Ghana independent and in 1960 he was elected president.

In February, 1966, Nkrumah’s government was overthrown in a military coup which was backed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and he went into exile in Guinea.

Kwame Nkrumah died April 27, 1972.

Kwame Nkrumah is best remembered for his strong commitment to and promotion of Pan-Africanism and his significant influence in the founding of the Organization of African Unity. In 2000, he was voted Arica’s Man of the Millennium by listeners of the BBC World Service. He was a prolific author and published his autobiography, “Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah,” in 1957. His other works include “Africa Must Unite” (1963), “Dark Days in Ghana” (1968), and “Revolutionary Path,” published posthumously in 1973.

Sources:

http://thewright.org/explore/blog/entry/today-in-black-history-9212012

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/people/person.php?ID=177

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‘WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS YOUR FOURTH OF JULY?’

Occasion: Meeting sponsored by the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society, Rochester Hall, Rochester, N.Y. To illustrate the full shame of slavery, Douglass delivered a speech that took aim at the pieties of the nation -- the cherished memories of its revolution, its principles of liberty, and its moral and religious foundation. The Fourth of July, a day celebrating freedom, was used by Douglass to remind his audience of liberty’s unfinished business.

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
...“What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?”

Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?...

...But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, lowering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!...

The speech was originally published as a pamphlet. It can be located in James M. Gregory’s, Frederick Douglass, the Orator (1893). More recent publications of the speech include Philip Foner’s, The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass (1950) and The Frederick Douglass Papers (1982), edited by John W. Blassingame.

Full Text: Manhood, Race, and Culture - http://www.manhoodraceculture.com/2014/07/04/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july-frederick-douglass-speaks/ Accessed on 07/04/2014.

Ancient African Civilization

I AM AN AFRICAN QUEEN