Civil Rights Movement: The Black Panthers

Throughout U.S. history African Americans have gone through and still face hardship. They were slaves early on and through laws they were able to be free and become citizens. Even after these events there were still obstacles that would have to be overcome. Leaders and icons in African American civil rights movements like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and etc. would spark and inspire other blacks to step up and try to make a difference. Some would try to make a difference but some with different methods. The Black Panthers, an organization of African Americans, were founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966. Like Martin Luther King Jr., they were fighting for African American rights in America but also those of other groups that
No matter the reason it still had a huge effect, scaring people of the government but also gaining attention, good and bad, to their organization. The Panthers did this protest at this time because the California State Assembly Committee on Criminal Procedure were planning to meet to discuss the "Mulford Act", which would make it illegal for the public to carry loaded firearms. Seale plus five other Panthers were arrested. About a week following the aggressive protest at Sacramento, the Panthers publicized its Ten Point program in an issue of the “Black Panther” newspaper. The Ten Point program was the desires/demands and treatment that the Panthers wanted for African Americans by White Americans. The first thing asked on the Ten Point was freedom. They believed that Black people would not be truly free unless they were able to determine their own destiny. They wanted to have make sure all Black people were fully employed, saying that “the government is responsible and obligated to give every man employment or a guaranteed income.” They wanted to end the robbery of Black communities. They believe they were owed overdue debt of forty acres and two mules as promised to ex-slaves during the reconstruction period following the emancipation of slavery.
Unlike most of activists before them they were more aggressive and I believe they also had more power, especially politically. Their time would come to end though as leaders within the group split because of disagreements and differences. Also the FBI where suspicious of the Panther’s activities and they were able to “officially” dismantle the organization by taking them to trial, creating conflict within the organization and some believed they even organized the murders of some of the leaders. At the end though the Black Panther’s, like MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, and etc., helped pave the way for African Americans in their fight against