Black Power grew out of the political, economic, and racial reality of post-war America, when the possibilities of American democracy seemed unlimited. Black Power activists challenged American hegemony at home and abroad, demanded full citizenship, and vociferously criticized political reforms that at times substituted tokenism and style over substance.
The movement’s multifaceted organizations, from SNCC to the National Welfare Rights Organization, triggered revolutions in knowledge, politics, consciousness, art, public policy, and foreign affairs along lines of race, class, gender, and sexuality. It forced a re-examination of race, war, human rights, and democracy and inspired millions of global citizens to reimagine a world free of poverty, racism, sexism, and economic exploitation.
-Peniel Joseph, The University of Texas at Austin
Books
Amiri Baraka and the Congress of African People by Call Number: Sc D 15-876ISBN: 9780230112155Publication Date: 2015-02-11
In Search of the Black Panther Party by Call Number: Sc E 08-928ISBN: 0822338378Publication Date: 2006-10-31
Power to the People: the World of the Black Panthers by Call Number: Sc F 16-397ISBN: 9781419722400Publication Date: 2016-10-18
Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power by Call Number: Sc D 11-2021ISBN: 9781935554660Publication Date: 2011-09-16
Freedom north : Black freedom struggles outside the South, 1940-1980 by Call Number: Sc D 03-867ISBN: 0312294689Publication Date: 2003
Watch
The Legacy of the Black Panthers.
Ex-members speak for themselves about the work of this great revolutionary party and why they are still so relevant today.
Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther. By William Klein
Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther is an Algerian documentary film made in 1969, in which Black Panther activist Eldridge Cleaver speaks from exile in Algeria, where he had moved after the state of California tried to charge him with intent to murder.
Off the Pig
This is one of the first films made about the Panthers. It contains interviews with Party leaders Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver describing why the Party was formed and what its goals are. It also includes footage of Panther recruitment, training and the Party's original 10 Point Program laid out by Chairman Bobby Seale.
Videos in NYPL Collection
The Black power mixtape 1967-1975 : a documentary in 9 chapters by Call Number: Sc Visual DVD-258ISBN: 9780788614439Publication Date: 2011
The Black Panthers : vanguard of the revolution by Call Number: DVD 322.4209ISBN: 9781627895453Publication Date: 2016
