Panther Power

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The Black Panther Party, originally called the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was founded in Oakland, California, in 1966 following the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. Party co-founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale based much of the organization’s philosophies on Malcolm X’s ideas including black nationalism and armed self-defense. By 1969 the party had launched multiple branches around the nation including in New York; however, Black Panther Party activity could have been taking place in Harlem, New York, as early as 1966. The Harlem branch was considered the central offices for the state, which eventually had branches in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, Mt. Vernon, Corona-East Elmhurst, and Jamaica. Nationally, party activities slowed in the mid-1970s into the 1980s as Federal Bureau of Investigations Director J. Edgar Hoover devoted FBI resources to its end and leadership dissolved.