Leonard N. Moore: The Defeat of Black Power: Civil Rights and the National Black Political Convention of 1972

Don Cox: Just Another Nigger: My Life in the Black Panther Party Berkeley, CA

Introduction

Chicago’s White Appalachian Poor and the Rise of the Young Patriots Organization Abstract Founded in 1968, the Young Patriots Organization brought together white Southerners living in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood in an effort to confront the poverty and discrimination that they faced in their new urban home. After joining together with the Black Panthers in a class-conscious interracial alliance known as the Rainbow Coalition, the Young Patriots developed an ideology that blended ardent anti-racism and anti-capitalism with a celebration of white Southern culture. Though their ideology failed to spread more widely, their community service initiatives, including a free breakfast program and local health clinic, provided necessary support to an isolated and underserved community.

No Justice, No Health: the Black Panther Party’s Fight for Health in Boston and Beyond Abstract The Black Panther Party (BPP) evolved from an organization focused on armed self-defense against police brutality to one that framed police violence as part of broader social violence. Protection meant advocating for a wide range of social and economic rights, including the right to health. In this view, the BPP aligned with a broader tradition of community health from the civil rights movement, women’s movement, and other progressive movements. Fred Hampton articulated a radical view that saw the inadequate government social services as a form of oppression. Central to better health was the promotion of social justice and human dignity, incorporated into the BPP “survival programs.” In a few short years, the BPP established more than a dozen clinics across the country and a national sickle cell screening program. Its legacy remains relevant today.

You Can’t Kill Chairman Fred: Examining the Life and Legacy of a Revolutionary Abstract At the age of twenty-one, Fred Hampton Sr., was assassinated, by a joint operation between the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Beyond his assassination, and his involvement with the Black Panthers, Hampton has left many influences in American society. His impact continued after his death, thus he should be remembered and studied as an important figure in the modern Civil Rights and Black Power eras. His impact and legacy have extended far beyond his lifetime and far beyond Chicago and deserves more scholarly attention.

The Battle of Algiers and Colonial Analogy in the Panther 21 Abstract It made headlines when the prosecution screened The Battle of Algiers (1966) as evidence in a 1969–1971 New York Supreme Court case concerning over a dozen members of the Black Panther Party. According to the prosecution, the pseudo-documentary depicting a pivotal battle in the fight for Algerian Independence informed the defendants’ purported plan to bomb sites in New York City. The allegation presented a tactical link between the defendants and the anticolonial organization, the F.L.N., depicted in the film. This paper argues that the screening acted counterproductively for the prosecution, however, by highlighting and bolstering an ideological link between the F.L.N. and the Panthers, in turn reinforcing the relevance of the “colonial analogy” the Panthers popularized.

“Latin Power to Latin People”: the Black Panther Party’s Influence on the Revolutionary Politics of the Young Lords Organization Abstract The Young Lords gang transformed in late 1968 into the Young Lords Organization (YLO)—a revolutionary political body modeled after and allied with the Black Panther Party (BPP). This article explores the role of the BPP in the transformation and political development of the Young Lords. In particular it examines the BPP’s influence on the organizational structure, political ideas, and major organizing activities of the YLO.

From Radicalism to Representation: Jose “Cha Cha“ Jimenez’s Journey into Electoral Politics Abstract This article examines Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez’s 1975 aldermanic campaign and his work toward the successful election of the first African American mayor of Chicago. Several progressive politicians who cut their political teeth on Jimenez’s city council campaign used the skills they acquired in the mid-1970s to break through the political glass ceiling that for decades kept Latinos from actualizing their potential. This article provides a lens through which to see how Jimenez and the Young Lords laid the groundwork for an anti-Daley machine that was a continuation of the original Rainbow Coalition.

We Joined Others Who Were Poor: the Young Lords, the Black Freedom Struggle, and the “Original” Rainbow Coalition Abstract This article examines the role that the modern Civil Rights and Black Power Movements played in shaping Puerto Rican organizing in the U.S., namely the evolution of the Young Lords of Chicago and the creation of the “Original” Rainbow Coalition.