In Oakland, California, in 1966, community college students Bobby Seale and Huey Newton armed themselves, began patrolling the police, and promised to prevent police brutality. Unlike the Civil Rights Movement that called for full citizenship rights for blacks within the United States, the Black Panther Party rejected the legitimacy of the U.S. government and positioned itself as part of a global struggle against American imperialism. In the face of intense repression, the Party flourished, becoming the center of a revolutionary movement with offices in sixty-eight U.S. cities and powerful allies around the world.
Black against Empire is the first comprehensive overview and analysis of the history and politics of the Black Panther Party. The authors analyze key political questions, such as why so many young black people across the country risked their lives for the revolution, why the Party grew most rapidly during the height of repression, and why allies abandoned the Party at its peak of influence. Bold, engrossing, and richly detailed, this book cuts through the mythology and obfuscation, revealing the political dynamics that drove the explosive growth of this revolutionary movement and its disastrous unraveling. Informed by twelve years of meticulous archival research, as well as familiarity with most of the former Party leadership and many rank-and-file members, this book is the definitive history of one of the greatest challenges ever posed to American state power.
Waldo E. Martin, Jr., is Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of History and Citizenship at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of No Coward Soldiers: Black Cultural Politics in Postwar America, Brown v. Board of Education: A Brief History with Documents, and The Mind of Frederick Douglass.
This is the official twitter account of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS).
Day 15 of #NCOBPSBHM2022 with 'Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party' by Joshua Bloom & Waldo E. Martin Jr. A deep dive into then and now of the politics and organization. Purchase here https://t.co/flAb4v0O1G from your local bookstore! https://t.co/p4w82LLtjB
Also on IG & Threads: @brianjoneseducator. See also: @nypleducators, @peoples_history, @nyupress, @haymarketbooks, @schomburgcenter
24. Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, by Joshua Bloom & Waldo E. Martin Jr.
My YouTube videos are literally the most practical application of my degree I have yet devised. Leftist. He/him. Msg me at coldcrashpictures@gmail.com
Latest read is #BlackAgainstEmpire. I’d never read a history of the BPP—much less an analysis of their politics—and I can’t recommend this one highly enough. All the revolutionary rhetoric of the last year… turns out it’s been in the air & on the books for over half a century. https://t.co/Zcc7Y5yJMO