The Black Panther Party “was not a group of angry young Black militants full of hatred and fury toward the White Establishment.”[11] They were just a small organization trying to help their people fight for social change. The Black Panther Party not only protected African Americans from police brutality, but also created survival programs to help the needy. They had dozens of programs trying to help their people, for example, The Free Food Program, The Free Sickle Cell Anemia Research Foundation, Employment Program, and The Free Clothing Program. The first and the most famous survival program that the Black Panther Party organized was the Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program. The breakfast program provided a free, hot, and nutritionally balanced breakfast for any child who attended the program. By 1969, this program had hundreds of breakfast programs throughout the country. The Black Panther organization was feeding so many children that a top white government official was forced to say, “The Panthers are feeding more kids than we are.”[12] This really demonstrates one of the ways that the Panthers fought for social change. They exposed the poverty of needy communities and created the Free Food Program as their way of aiding the community. Not only did they feed children so that they won’t go to school hungry, but they would also provide food to Blacks and other minorities who in need of this kind of aid. The Free Food Program “provided bags of fresh foods containing items such as eggs, canned fruit, vegetables, chicken, milk, potatoes, rice, bread, cereal and so forth.”[13] These bags that were handed to people consisted of a minimum of a week’s worth of food, so it was very helpful to families. The program depended almost entirely on donations from grocery store owners and wholesale food dealers. So the Panthers visited many grocery store managers and owners to explain the purpose of The Free Food Program. They showed the managers how their contribution would benefit the overall survival of the community. Another program that was important was the free Sickle Cell Anemia Research Foundation Program created in 1971. This was an important program because sickle cell anemia was “a deadly blood disease that affects primarily Black Americans.”[14] So this disease would lead some African Americans to death because they would never discover that they were suffering from sickle cell anemia. This program helped many African Americans find out if they had the disease and the foundation would try to give them a cure. This was a program that required eight volunteers in order for the operation to work. It was not easy, however African American medical students would volunteer and try to help out their community. Another program that was a great help to the people was the Free Shoe and Clothing Program. Shoes that were at the price range of 30-50 dollars were unaffordable to many people because they were expensive and would only last them a couple of months, the same would go for the clothes. These two programs were very beneficial to the community because if a person was looking for a job, but had no good clothes to wear for the interview, The Free Shoe and Clothing Program would lend or give away the clothes. Overall all of these programs that the Black Panther Party created were great for the people because they were free and benefited every single one of them that was in need. However, these programs only lasted a couple of years. “The government has attacked us again, the IRS and other agencies harassing the members of the East Bay business community who were the ones who gave the programs financial support are gone,”[15] were the words of David Hilliard. With the main contributors and donors to the programs unable or unwilling to assist, the programs died out, even though they were so beneficial to needy communities who relied on these programs to extend survivability.
[11] Hanah,Sell, Lessons from the Black Panther Party. Seattle, WA: Socialist Alternative. (2013)
[12] Sundiata Acoli (2013)
[13]Hilliard, David, 2008. The Black Panther Party: Service to the People Programs. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press
[14] (Hilliard 2008)
[15] (Hilliard 2008)
[16] (Hilliard 2008)
[17] Cole Lewis and David Hilliard, 2001. This Side of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books.
[12] Sundiata Acoli (2013)
[13]Hilliard, David, 2008. The Black Panther Party: Service to the People Programs. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press
[14] (Hilliard 2008)
[15] (Hilliard 2008)
[16] (Hilliard 2008)
[17] Cole Lewis and David Hilliard, 2001. This Side of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books.