The Black PanthersLesson starter:Write a description for the following photographs;

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Today we will…

• Understand why the Black Panthers were different from any other group

• Identify what made them a dangerous group in America

Mid 1960s…a violent time in AmericaJFK assassinatedMLK

assassinatedRiots in northern states

Anti-Vietnam war protestsMove towards

violent civil rights protests

Black panthers were the most violent Civil Rights group of all

Started in 1966

Where did the name come from?

•Panther was Black

•Panther was strong

•Panthers are particularly strong when cornered

Images of Black and White people protesting non-violently disappeared

This became the new face of the Civil Rights movement

Black leather jacket Guns

Black berets

• The newspapers and TV stations gave the BP a negative, violent image

• They publicised the way the BP spoke out against police and government

• They made out that the BP was only an anti-white organisation

The Good side…• Free breakfast clubs for

children• Free health clinics• Local support groups• Free clothes for poor• Campaigns to reduce crime

and drug use

All of these took place in tough ghettos which generally had a large Black population

Huey Newton, Black Panthers Leader

What were the aims of the Black Panthers?

• Freedom for Black Americans

• Better Housing

• Better Education

• Release of Black prisoners

The Black Panthers wanted to improve the economic

status of Black people whereas Martin Luther King’s protests had not

addressed this.

Huey Newton

The FBI• The Panthers were

involved in many shoot-outs in the 1960s and many were arrested

• Historians now think the Panthers were deliberately targeted by the FBI

• The FBI spied on groups like the Black Panthers

• They aimed to make them look bad to undermine their work

• The FBI destroyed their breakfast club, shut down their newspaper and disrupted their local help programmes

J Edgar Hoover (FBI chief 1960s) set out to destroy the Black Panthers

The Black PanthersPositive/ Negatives

They helped improve the life of Blacks living

in ghettos

They gave dignity and

confidence to many Black Americans

Their violent reputation gave

Black Americans a

bad reputation

Their policies made them an FBI target

and led to their best schemes being closed

down i.e. breakfast clubs

Today we will…

• Understand why the Black Panthers were different from any other Civil Rights group

• Identify what caused them to be seen as a dangerous group in America