The Women of the Black Panther Party
Each spring semester the University Library System, in collaboration with Pitt’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), award ten students with the Archival Scholars Research Award (ASRA). This semester, seven of those students are working in Special Collections. Each month, we ask the scholars to submit blog posts on the discoveries they are making. This week we will feature their last installments.
The cover of The Black Panther , June 10, 1972.
The leadership body of the Black Panther Party was originally entirely male, and remained so for well over a year, until Kathleen Cleaver was appointed to the role of communications secretary. As the years passed, however, the influence that women had within the Party grew. Most notably, Huey P. Newton’s 1974 flight to Cuba left a vacancy in the leadership body that was assumed by Elaine Brown. She had previously been the Minister of Information, assuming the role after Eldridge Cleaver’s departure. During this time, she directed national Party activities and initiatives, traveling around the United States to give talks and conduct programs. She remained in this position until 1977, when she left the Party to raise her daughter.
Ericka Huggins, another Party leader, had been highly publicized since her 1970 arrest as part of the New Haven Panther Trials. The slogan, “Free Ericka!” had been emblazoned on buttons and posters, and was featured with great frequency on the pages of The Black Panther . After her acquittal, Huggins became involved in local institutional politics, elected to the Oakland City School Board.
Angela Davis was also an important figure in the Party, though she was not an official member. As a prominent CPUSA member, she worked closely with the Panthers on many campaigns, and the Panthers vocally supported her movements, often calling for her acquittal from various charges. Largely considered a terrorist, Davis spent many months as a fugitive, avoiding arrest for her role in the death of Judge Harold Haley; this led to J. Edgar Hoover putting her on the F.B.I.’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, making her the third woman ever to be designated so.
Though the Panthers had historically been opposed to working from within the system to reform, Brown’s leadership ushered in a new wave of comparative moderation. She, too, ran for city office, and though not elected, The Black Panther continued to chronicle this ideological shift. Extensive coverage was given concerning education, focusing particularly on the barriers that black children faced in learning and publicizing the curriculum of the Panther-run Oakland City School. They also began giving ad space to local black businesses, the owners of which had previously been identified as complicit in the subjugation of the black lower class, and included new sections pertaining to sports and entertainment. The newspaper did, however, remain staunchly anti-federal government: there was ample coverage of U.S. lack of involvement in South Africa, COINTELPRO investigations of civil rights leaders, and accusations government conspiracies relating to the Jonestown Massacre.
-Maureen Jones, Archival Scholars Research Awardee ‘17
