By: Paige Robinson, Staff Photographer
The Black Panther Party (BPP) in the 1960’s is known by many, but not always in a positive way. They are / were seen as a violent terrorist group that was feared by many people in the white community. However, their intentions and actions are rarely spoken about truthfully.
The Black Panther Party was a Black power organization that was created in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale to promote Black power and protect the Black body. As the Black community was oppressed, the Black Panther Party was encouraging Black people to love themselves and not be afraid to stand up for themselves. This caused fear in the white community because they saw how the Black community was beginning to defend themselves. Nevertheless, the Black Panther Party was not supposed to be considered a violent group, but instead a strong community who cared for each other. When taught about their group, the great acts they did are never mentioned. What many people are not aware of is how the Black Panther Party inspired the rest of the country to start school feeding programs for children.
Many Black children lived in poverty because of the racist ideals in America in the 1960’s. This meant very little food for them. With the BPP wanting to ensure the protection / survival of Black people, the BPP was inspired to create a program to feed children before they started classes in school. The program was called the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast for School Children and was officially created in 1966, just a few years after the establishment of the BPP as a whole. Schools and the BPP worked with local grocery stores to supply food. The program led to thousands of children being fed every morning, which for many children, was their only meal of the day. This did not only fill their stomachs, but did improve the children’s behavior in class and would not complain about being hungry. Despite the positives of the program, the white community worked to bring it down.
The FBI was already not in favor with the BPP, so they attempted to stop the breakfast for children program. They would do acts like travel to the Black communities houses and tell the residents that the BPP would poison their children’s food, find the schools with the breakfast and destroy it and even urinate on it, and so many other terrible things. Sadly, the FBI’s actions led to the downfall of the BPP, along with them killing many Civil Rights activists, destroying Black neighborhoods, and more.
Regardless of how the FBI and the overall white community worked to break down the Black community and their accomplishments, these moments in history do not go unnoticed. The BPP may have officially been shut down, but the community continued to stay strong and protect one another. Their acts would later lead to equality and justice. As for the free breakfast program the BPP created, their acts were noticed by many around the nation, which inspired schools all around to start their own breakfast programs. Despite the BPP being seen as a horrible group, they did amazing things for others, and ended up being an influence on many.
To read more about The Black Panther Party’s School Breakfast Program, visit:
https://www.history.com/news/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party