The Black Panther Party is one of the most controversial and misunderstood groups coming out the the Black Power Movement in the 1960’s. The Black Panther Party was founded in October 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, who created a ten-point program to address political oppression, poverty, joblessness, hunger, housing, and the lack of justice in the Black community.

Most people remember intimidating images of armed patrols of Black Panthers. Few people recall the intensity of racial profiling and police abuse in Black neighborhoods. Even fewer know of the Black Panther Party’s proactive measures to assist the neglected Black community such as the Breakfast Program that provided hundreds of the thousands of meals to children across the nation.

In February of 2008, Pacific Radio Archives Production Coordinator Edgar Toledo teamed up with longtime Archives volunteer Debbie Demery to help make sense of the controversy by sifting through a mountain of material to produce a six-disc box set of the most relevant Black Panther Party materials from our collection. This week on From the Vault, we feature true Pacifica treasures — historic recordings of Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Kathleen Cleaver, H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, voices from the Black Panther Party Breakfast Program, and the Panther 21 from New York. You’ll also hear music from Elaine Brown, former Chairperson of the Black Panther Program; Brown released two albums, Sieze the Time (1969) and the self-titled Elaine Brown (1973), both arranged by late Jazz great Horace Tapscott.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

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Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

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