The Black Panther (newspaper)
 The Black Panther Newspaper Masthead 1967-1980 | |
| Format | Tabloid |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) |
Huey P. Newton Bobby Seale |
| Publisher | Black Panther Party |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Political alignment | Black Power |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters |
Oakland, California United States |
The Black Panther began as a four-page newsletter in Oakland, CA, in 1967, founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. It was the main publication of the Black Panther Party (BPP), and was sold in several large cities across the United States, as well as having an international readership.
Foundation
The Black Panther Party (BPP) maintained a commitment to community service included various "survival programs" developed by individual chapters that, by 1969, became part of the BPP's national "serve the people program" to connect their commitments to basic social services with community organizing and consciousness raising. The BPP's Intercommunal News Service published The Black Panther Party Newspaper as a critical part of its consciousness raising program.[1]
The Black Panther Party Newspaper is also known as the The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service, Black Panther Black Community News Service, and Black Community News Service, was published by the Black Panther Party (BPP) from 1969 to 1980.
An undergraduate student at San Francisco State, Judy Juanita, served as editor at The Black Panther Party Newspaper during the later 1960s.[2] In 1969, two-thirds of BPP members were women.[3]
In its later years it was used to rally support for members of the party who became political prisoners.
Format
"The BPP newspaper grew from a four-page newsletter to a full newspaper in about a year and about 500 issues were printed".[4]
Circulation
Circulation was national and international.[5] From 1968 to 1971, The Black Panther Party Newspaper was the most widely read Black newspaper in the United States, with a weekly circulation of more than 300,000. It sold for 25 cents. Every Panther was required to read and study the newspaper before they could sell it. As it became nationally circulated, The Black Panther Party Newspaper national distribution center was located in San Francisco, with a distribution team led by Andrew Austin, Sam Napier, and Ellis White. Other distribution centers were in Chicago, Kansas, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle.[4]
References
- ↑ Carpini, Michael X. Delli. "Black Panther Party 1966–1982." In James Ciment and Immanuel Ness (eds), Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America, pp. 190–197. Vol. 1, Third Parties in History; Third-Party Maps; American Third Parties A-F. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference, 2000. Gale Virtual Reference Library (accessed February 25, 2017).
- ↑ Tobar, Hector (April 19, 2013). "Judy Juanita and her 'Virgin Soul'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
- ↑ Cleaver, Kathleen Neal, Women, Power and Revolution, excerpted from Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party. London, England: Routledge, 2001, pp. 123–127.
- 1 2 Jennings, Billy X (May 4, 2015). "Remembering the Black Panther Party Newspaper April 25, 1967–September 1980". San Francisco Bayview. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
- ↑ "Freedom Archives".
Further reading
- "The Black Panther: newspaper of the Black Panther Party". libcom.org. libcom.org.
- Charles Evens Inniss Memorial Library Archives. The Black Panther Newspapers and Posters - Collection History and Scope. Medgar Evers College, CUNY, November 2013. Web. February 25, 2017. This online exhibit displays digitized issues of the newspaper The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service from 1969 to 1973 and the party’s propaganda posters.
- African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War, Document collection: Congress. Staff Study by the Committee on Internal Security – House of Representatives. The Black Panther Party Its Origin and Development as Reflected In Its Official Weekly Newspaper The Black Panther Black Community News Service. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1970.